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MISSIONARY TMYELS 



RESEARCHES II SOUTH AFRICA: 

INCLUDING A SKETCH OF 

SIXTEEN TEARS' RESIDENCE IN THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA, 

AND A JOURNEY FROM THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE TO LOANDA ON THE WEST 

COAST ; THENCE ACROSS THE CONTINENT, DOWN THE RIVER 

ZAMBESI, TO THE EASTERN OCEAN. 



BY DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D., D.C.L., 

FELLOW OF THE FAOinLTY OF PHYSICIANS AND BTTEGEONS, GLASGOW; 00EEE8P0NDIN& 

MEMBER OP THE GEOGKAPHIOAL AKD STATISTICAL SOCIETY OP NEW YOEK ; 

GOLD MEDALIST AND COP.P.ESPONDING MEMBER OF THE EOYAL 

GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETIES OF LONDON AND PARIS. 

r.B.A., ETC., ETC. 




Tsetse Fly —Magnified.— ^q& p. GIL*. 

WITH POETEAIT ; MAPS BY AEE0W8MITH ; AND NTJMEE0TJ8 ILLUBTEATIONS. 

NEW YOEK: 

HARPEE & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 

1858. 



3 






.V- 



N iVV' 



{;/ 



DEDICATION. 



TO 



SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, 

PEESIDENT KOYAL GEOGKAPHIOAL SOCIETY, F.E.S., V.P.G.S., COEK. I>-8T. OP FKANOE, ANB 

MEMBER OF THE ACADEMIES OP 8T. PETEK8BUKG, BEELIN, STOCKHOLM, 

COPENHAGEN, BEUSSELS, ETC., 

t[)t0 iDork 

is aiFectionately offered as a Token of Gratitude for the kind interest he 
has always taken in the Author's pursuits and w^elfare ; and to express 
admiration of his eminent scientific attainments, nowhere more strongly 
evidenced than by the striking hypothesis respecting the physical con- 
formation of the African continent, promulgated in his Presidential Ad- 
dress to the Eoyal Geographical Society in 1852, and verified three 
years afterward by the Author of these Travels. 

DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 

London, Oct., 1857. 



PREFACE, 



When honored with a special meeting of welcome by the Eoyal 
Geographical Society a few days after my arrival in London in 
December last, Sir Roderick Murchison, the President, invited me 
to give to the world a narrative of my travels ; and at a similar 
meeting of the Directors of the London Missionary Society I pub- 
licly stated my intention of sending a book to the press, instead 
of making many of those public appearances which were urged 
upon me. The preparation of this narrative* has taken much 
longer time than, from my inexperience in authorship, I had an- 
ticipated. 

Greater smoothness of diction and a saving of time might have 
been secured by the employment of a person accustomed to com- 
pilation ; but my journals having been kept for my own private 
purposes, no one else could have made use of them, or have en- 
tered with intelligence into the circumstances in which I was placed 
in Africa, far from any European companion. Those who have 
never carried a book through the press can form no idea of the 
amount of toil it involves. The process has increased my respect 
for authors and authoresses a thousand-fold. 

I can not refrain from referring, with sentiments of admiration 
and gratitude, to my friend Thomas Maclear, Esq., the accom- 
plished Astronomer Eoyal at the Cape. I shall never cease to 
remember his instructions and help with real gratitude. The in- 
tercourse I had the privilege to enjoy at the Observatory enabled 
me to form an idea of the almost infinite variety of acquirements 
necessary to form a true and great astronomer, and I was led to 
the conviction that it will be long before the world becomes over- 
stocked with accomplished members of that profession. Let them 
be always honored according to their deserts ; and long may Mac- 
lear, Herschel, Airy, and others live to make known the wonders 
and glory of creation, and to aid in rendering the pathway of the 
world safe to mariners, and the dark places of the earth open to 
Christians ! 

* Several attempts having been made to impose npon the public, as mine, spuri- 
ous narratives of my travels, I beg to tender my thanks to the editors of the Times 
and of the Athenceum for aiding to expose them, and to the booksellers of London 
for refusing to subscribe for any copies. 



X PREFACE. 

I beg to offer my hearty thanks to my friend Sh Roderick 
Murchison, and also to Dr. Norton Shaw, the secretary of the 
Royal Geographical Society, for aiding my researches by every 
means in their power. 

His faithful majesty Don Pedro V.', having kindly sent out or- 
ders to support my late companions until my return, relieved my 
mind of anxiety on their account. But for this act of liberality, 
I should certainly have been compelled to leave England in May 
last ; and it has afforded me the pleasure of traveling over, in im- 
agination, every scene again, and recalling the feelings which actu- 
ated me at the time. I have much pleasure in acknowledging my 
deep obligations to the hospitality and kindness of the Portuguese 
on many occasions. 

I have not entered into the early labors, trials, and successes of 
the missionaries who preceded me in the Bechuana country, be- 
cause that has been done by the much abler pen of my father-in- 
law. Rev. Robert Moffat, of Kuruman, who has been an energetic 
and devoted actor in the scene for upward of forty years. A slight 
sketch only is given of my own attempts, and the chief part of the 
book is taken up with a detail of the efforts made to open up a 
new field north of the Bechuana country to the sympathies of 
Christendom. The prospects there disclosed are fairer than I an- 
ticipated, and the capabilities of the new region lead me to hope 
that by the production of the raw materials of our manufactures, 
African and English interests will become more closely linked 
than heretofore, that both countries will be eventually benefited, 
and that the cause of freedom throughout the world will in some 
measure be promoted. 

Dr. Hooker, of Kew, has had the kindness to name and classify 
for me, as far as possible, some of the new botanical specimens 
which I brought over ; Dr. Andrew Smith (himself an African 
traveler) has aided me in the zoology ; and Captain Need has laid 
open for my use his portfolio of African sketches, for all which 
acts of liberality my thanks are deservedly due, as well as to my 
brother, who has rendered me willing aid as an amanuensis. 

Although I can not profess to be a draughtsman, I brought 
liome with me a few rough diagram-sketches, from one of which 
the view of the Falls of the Zambesi has been prepared by a more 
experienced artist. 

October, 1857. . 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Personal Sketch.— Highland Ancestors.— Family Traditions.— Grandfather removes , 
to the Lowlands.— Parents.— Early Labors and Efforts.— Evening School.— Love 
of Beading. — Religious Impressions. — Medical Education. — Youthful Travels. — 
Geology.— Mental Discipline.— Study in Glasgow.— London Missionary Society.— 
Native Village.— Medical Diploma.— Theological Studies.— Departure for Africa. 
— No Claim to Literary Accomplishments Page 1 

CHAPTER I. 

The Bakwain Country.— Study of the Language.— Native Ideas regarding Comets. 
— Mabotsa Station. — A Lion Encounter. — Virus of the Teeth of Lions. — Names 
of the Bechuana Tribes. — Sechele. — His Ancestors. — Obtains the Chieftainship. 
— His Marriage and Government. — The Kotla. — First public Religious Sei-vices. 
— Sechele's Questions. — He Learns to Read. — Novel mode for Converting his 
Tribe. — Surprise at their Indifference. — Polygamy. — Baptism of Sechele. — Oppo- 
sition of the Natives. — Purchase Land at Chonuane. — Relations with the People. 
— Their Intelligence. — Prolonged Drought. — Consequent Trials. — Rain-medi- 
cine. — God's Word blamed. — Native Reasoning. — Rain-maker. — Dispute between 
Rain Doctor and Medical Doctor. — The Hunting Hopo. — Salt or animal Food a 
necessary of Life. — Duties of a Missionary 9 

CHAPTER II. 

The Boers. — Their Treatment of the Natives. — Seizure of native Children for 
Slaves. — English Traders. — Alarm of the Boers. — Native Espionage. — The Tale 
of the Cannon. — The Boers threaten Sechele. — In violation of Treaty, they stop 
English Traders and expel Missionaries. — They attack the Bakwains. — Their 
Mode of Fighting. — The Natives killed and the School-children carried into 
Slavery. — Destruction of English Property. — African Housebuilding and House- 
keeping. — Mode of Spending the Day. — Scarcity of Food. — Locusts. — Edible 
Frogs. — Scavenger Beetle. — Continued Hostility of the Boers. — The Journey 
north. — Preparations. — Fellow-travelers. — The Kalahari Desert. — Vegetation. — 
Watermelons. — The Inhabitants. — The Bushmen. — Their nomade Mode of 
Life. — Appearance. — The Bakalahari. — Their Love for Agriculture and for do- 
mestic Animals. — Timid Character. — Mode of obtaining Water. — Female Water- 
suckers. — The Desert. — Water hidden 35 

CHAPTER in. 

Departure from Kolobeng, 1st June, 1849. — Companions. — Our Route. — Abund- 
ance of Grass. — Serotli, a Fountain in the Desert. — Mode of digging Wells. — 
The Eland. — Animals of the Desert. — The Hyisena. — The Chief Sekomi.— 
Dangers. — The wandering Guide. — Cross Purposes. — Slow Progress. — ^Want of 



xii CONTENTS. 

Water, — Capture of a Bushwoman. — The Salt-pan at Nchokotsa. — The Mirage. 
— Reach the River Zouga. — The Quakers of Africa. — ^Discovery of Lake Ngami, 
1st August, 1849. — ^Its Extent. — Small Depth of Water. — Position as the Reser- 
voir of a great River System. — The Bamangwato and their Chief. — Desire to 
visit Sebituane, the Chief of the Makololo. — Refusal of Lechulatebe to furnish 

us with Guides. — Resolve to return to the Cape. — The Banks of the Zouca. 

Pitfalls. — Trees of the District. — Elephants. — New Species of Antelope. — Fish 
in the Zouga Page 61 

CHAPTER IV. 

Leave Kolobeng again for the Country of Sebituane. — Reach the Zouga. — The 
Tsetse. — A Party of Englishmen. — Death of Mr. Rider. — Obtain Guides. — Chil- 
dren fall sick with Fever. — Relinquish the Attempt to reach Sebituane. — Mr. 
Os well's Elephant-hunting. — Return to Kolobeng. — Make a third Start thence. 
— Reach Nchokotsa. — Salt-pans. — "Links," or Springs. — Bushmen. — Our Guide 

, Shobo. — The Banajoa. — An ugly Chief. — The Tsetse. — Bite fatal to domestic 
Animals, but harmless to wild Animals and Man. — Operation of the Poison. — 
Losses caused by it. — The Makololo. — Our Meeting with Sebituane. — Sketch of 
his Career. — His Courage and Conquests. — Manoeuvres of t^ie Batoka. — He out- 
wits them. — His Wars with the Matebele. — Predictions of a native Prophet. — 
Successes of the Makololo. — Renewed Attacks of the Matebele. — The Island of 
Loyelo. — ^Defeat of the Matebele. — Sebituane's Policy. — His Kindness to Stran- 
gers and to the Poor. — His sudden Illness and Death. — Succeeded by his Daugh- 
ter. — Her Friendliness to us. — Discovery, in Jime, 1851, of the Zambesi flowing 
in the Centre of the Continent. — Its Size. — The Mambari. — The Slave-trade. — 
Determine to send Family to England. — Return to the Cape in April, 1852. — 
Safe Transit through the Caffre Country during Hostilities. — Need of a " Spe- 
cial Correspondent." — Kindness of the London Missionary Society. — Assistance 
afforded by the Astronomer Royal at the Cape 88 

CHAPTER V. 

Start in June, 1852, on the last and longest Journey from Cape Town. — Compan- 
ions. — Wagon-traveling. — Physical Divisions of Africa. — The Eastern, Central, 
and Western Zones. — The Kalahari Desert. — Its Vegetation. — Increasing Value 
of the Interior for Colonization. — Our Route. — Dutch Boers. — Their Habits, — 
Sterile Appearance of the District. — Failure of Grass. — Succeeded by other 
Plants. — Vines. — Animals. — The Boers as Farmers. — Migration of Springbucks. 
— Wariness of Animals. — The Orange River. — Territory of the Griquas and 
Bechuanas. — The Griquas. — The Chief Waterboer. — His wise and energetic 
Government. — His Fidelity. — Ill-considered Measures of the Colonial Govern- 
ment in regard to Supplies of Gunpowder. — Success of the Missionaries among 
the Griquas and Bechuanas. — Manifest Improvement of the native Character. — 
Dress of the Natives. — A full-dress Costume. — A Native's Description of the Na- 
tives. — ^Articles of Commerce in the Country of the Bechuanas. — Their Unwil- 
lingness to learn, and Readiness to criticise 108 

CHAPTER VI. 

Kuruman, — Its fine Fountain, — Vegetation of the District, — Remains of ancient 
Forests. — ^Vegetable Poison. — The Bible translated by Mr. Moffat. — Capabilities 
of the Language. — Christianity among the Natives. — The Missionaries should 
extend their Labors more beyond the Cape Colony. — Model Christians. — Dis- 



CONTENTS. xiii 

graceful Attack of the Boers on the Bakwains. — Letter from Sechele. — Details 
of the Attack. — Numbers of School-children carried away into Slavery. — De- 
struction of House and Property at Kolobeng. — The Boers vow Vengeance against 
me. — Consequent Difficulty of getting Servants to accompany me on my Jour- 
ney. — Start in November, 1852. — Meet Sechele on his way to England to obtain 
Redress from the Queen. — He is unable to proceed beyond the Cape. — Meet 
Mr. Macabe on his Return from Lake Ngami. — The hot Wind of the Desert. — 
Electric State of the Atmosphere. — Flock of Swifts. — Reach Litubaruba. — 
The Cave Lepelole. — Superstitions regarding it. — Impoverished State of the 
Bakwains. — Retaliation on the Boers. — Slavery. — Attachment of the Bechu- 
anas to Children. — Hydrophobia unknown. — Diseases of the Bakwains few 
in number. — Yearly Epidemics. — Hasty Burials. — Ophthalmia. — Native 
Doctors. — Knowledge of Surgery at a very low Ebb. — Little Attendance 
given to Women at their Confinements. — The "Child Medicine." — Salu- 
brity of the Climate well adapted for Invalids suffering from pulmonary Com- 
plaints Page 124 

CHAPTER VIL 

Departure from the Country of the Bakwains. — Large black Ant.^Land Tor- 
toises. — Diseases of wild Animals. — Habits of old Lions — Cowardice of the 
Lion. — Its Dread of a Snare. — Major Vardon's Note. — The Roar of the Lion re- 
sembles the Cry of the Ostrich. — Seldom attacks full-grown Animals'. — Biiftaloes 
and Lions. — Mice. — Serpents. — Treading on one. — Venomous and harmless Va- 
rieties. — Fascination. — Sekomi's Ideas of Honesty. — Ceremony of the Sechu for 
Boys. — The Boyale for young Women. — Bamangwato Hills. — The Unicorn's 
Pass. — The Country beyond. — Grain. — Scarcity of Water. — Honorable Conduct 
of English Gentlemen. — Gordon Cumming's hunting Adventures. — A Word of 
Advice for young Sportsmen. — Bushwomen drawing Water. — Ostrich. — Silly 
Habit. — Paces. — Eggs. — Food 148 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Effects of Missionary Efforts. — Belief in the Deity. — Ideas of the Bakwains on Re- 
ligion. — Departure from their Country. — Salt-pans. — Sour Curd. — Nchokotsa. — 
Bitter Waters. — Thirst suffered by the wild Animals. — Wanton Crueltj' in Hunt- 
ing. — Ntwetwe. — Mowana-trees. — Their extraordinary Vitality. — The Mopane- 
tree. — The Morala. — The Bushmen. — Their Superstitions. — Elephant-hunting. — 
Superiority of civilized over barbarous Sportsmen. — The Chief Kaisa. — His Fear 
of Responsibility. — Beauty of the Country at Unku. — The Mohonono Bush. — 
Severe Labor in cutting our Way. — Party seized with Fever. — Escape of our 
Cattle. — Bakwain Mode of recapturing them.— Vagaries of sick Servants. — Dis- 
covery of grape-bearing Vines. — An Ant-eater. — Difficulty of passing through 
the Forest. — Sickness of my Companion. — The Bushmen. — Their Mode of de- 
stroying Lions. — Poisons. — The solitary Hill. — A picturesque Valley. — Beauty 
of the Coimtry. — Arrive at the Sanshureh River. — The flooded Prairies. — A 
pontooning Expedition. — A night Bivouac. — The Chobe. — Arrive at the Village 
of Moremi. — Surprise of the Makololo at our sudden Appearance. — Cross the 
Chobe on our way to Linyanti 175 

CHAPTER IX. 

Reception at Linyanti. — The court Herald. — Sekeletu obtains the Chieftainship 



XIV 



CONTENTS. 



from his Sister. — Mpepe's Plot. — Slave-trading Mambari. — Their sudden Flight. 
— Sekeletu narrowly escapes Assassination. — Execution of Mpepe. — The Courts 
of Law. — Mode of trying Offenses. — Sekeletu's Keason for not learning to read 
the Bible. — The Disposition made of the Wives of a deceased Chief. — Makololo 
"Women. — They work but little. — Employ Serfs. — Their Drink, Dress, and Orna- 
ments. — Public Religious Services in the Kotla. — Unfavorable Associations of the 
place. — Native Doctors. — Proposals to teach the Makololo to read. — Sekeletu's 
Present. — Reason for accepting it. — Trading in Ivory. — Accidental Fire. — Pres- 
ents for Sekeletu. — Two Breeds of native Cattle. — Ornamenting the Cattle. — The 
Women and the Looking-glass. — Mode of preparing the Skins of Oxen for Man- 
tles and for Shields. — Throwing the Spear Page 196 

CHAPTER X. 

The Fever. — Its Symptoms. — Remedies of the native Doctors. — Hospitality of Se- 
keletu and his People. — One of their Reasons for Polygamy. — They cultivate 
largely. — The Makalaka or subject Tribes. — Sebituane's Policy respecting them. 
— Their Aifection for him. — Products of the Soil. — Instrument of Culture. — The 
Tribute. — Distributed by the Chief. — A warlike Demonstration. — Lechulatebe's 
Provocations. — The Makololo determine to punish him. — The Bechuanas. — 
Meaning of the Term. — Three Divisions of the great Family of South Afri- 
cans 212 

CHAPTER XL 

Departure from Linyanti for Sesheke.— Level Country.— Ant-hills.— Wild Date- 
trees.— Appearance of our Attendants on the March. — The Chief's Guard. — They 
attempt to ride on Ox-back. — Vast Herds of the new Antelopes, Leches, and Na- 
kongs. — The native way of hunting them. — Reception at the Villages. — Presents 
of Beer and Milk. — Eating with the Hand. — The Chief provides the Oxen for 
Slaughter.— Social Mode of Eating. — The Sugar-cane. — Sekeletu's novel Test 
of Character.— Cleanliness of Makololo Huts.— Their Construction and Appear- 
ance. — The Beds. — Cross the Leeambye. — Aspect of this part of the Country. — 
The small Antelope Tianyane unknown in the South. — Hunting on foot. — An 
Eland 221 

CHAPTER XII. 

Procure Canoes and ascend the Leeambye. — Beautiful Islands. — Winter Land- 
scape.— Industry and Skill of the Banyeti.— Rapids.— Falls of Gonye.— Tradi- 
tion.— Annual Inundations.— Fertility of the great Barotse Valley.— Execution 
of two Conspirators.— The Slave-dealer's Stockade.— Naliele, the Capital, built 
on an artificial Mound. — Santuru, a great Hunter.— The Barotse Method of com- 
memorating any remarkable Event. — Better Treatment of Women.— More relig- 
ious Feeling. — Belief in a future State, and in the Existence of spiritual Beings. 
— Gardens. — Fish, Fruit, and Game. — Proceed to the Limits of the Barotse 
Country. — Sekeletu provides Rowers and a Herald. — The River and Vicinity. — 
Hippopotamus-hunters. — No healthy Location. — Determine to go to Loanda. — 
Buffaloes, Elands, and Lions above Libonta. — Interview with the Mambari. — 
Two Arabs from Zanzibar.— Their Opinion of the Portuguese and the English.— 
Reach the Town of Ma-Sekeletu.— Joy of the People at the first Visit of their 
Chief. — Return to Sesheke. — Heathenism 231 



CONTENTS. XV 

CHAPTEE XIII. 

Preliminary Arrangements for the Journey. — A Picho. — Twenty-seven Men ap- 
pointed to accompany me to the West. — Eagerness of the Makololo for direct 
Trade with the Coast. — Effects of Fever. — A Makololo Question. — The lost Jour- 
nal. — Reflections. — The Outfit for the Journey. — 11th November, 1853, leave Lin- 
yanti, and embark on the Chobe. — Dangerous Hippopotami. — Banks of Chobe. — 
Trees. — The Course of the River. — The Island Mparia at the Confluence of the 
Chobe and the Leeambye. — Anecdote. — Ascend the Leeambye. — A Makalaka 
Mother defies the Authority of the Makololo Head Man at Sesheke. — Punishment 
of Thieves. — Observance of the new Moon. — Public Addresses at Sesheke. — At- 
tention of the People. — Results. — Proceed up the River. — The Eruit which yields 
Nux vomica. — Other Eruits. — The Rapids. — Birds. — Fish. — Hippopotami and 
their Young Page 247 

CHAPTER XIV. 

'Increasing Beauty of the Country. — Mode of spending the Day. — The People and 
the Falls of Gonye. — A Makololo Foray. — A second prevented, and Captives de- 
livered up. — Politeness and Liberality of the People. — The Rains. — Present of 
Oxen. — The fugitive Barotse. — Sekobinyane's Misgovernment. — Bee-eaters and 
other Birds. — Fresh-water Sponges. — Current. — Death from a Lion's Bite at 
Libonta. — Continued Kindness. — Arrangements for spending the Night during 
the Journey. — Cooking and Washing. — Abundance of animal Life. — Different 
Species of Birds. — Water-fowl. — Egyptian Geese. — Alligators. — Narrow Escape 
of one of my Men. — Superstitious Feelings respecting the Alligator. — Large 
Game. — The most vulnerable Spot. — Gun Medicine. — A Sunday. — Birds of 
Song. — Depravity; its Treatment. — Wild Fruits. — Green Pigeons. — Shoals of 
Fish. — Hippopotami 265 

CHAPTER XV. 

Message to Masiko, the Barotse Chief, regarding the Captives. — ^Navigation of the 
Leeambye. — Capabilities of this District. — The Leeba. — Flowers and Bees. — 
Buffalo-hunt. — Field for a Botanist. — Young Alligators ; their savage Nature. — 
Suspicion of the Balonda. — Sekelenke's Present. — A Man and his two Wives. — 
Hunters. — Message from Manenko, a female Chief. — Mambari Traders. — A 
Dream. — Sheakondo and his People. — Teeth-filing. — Desire for Butter. — Inter- 
view with Nyamoana, another female Chief. — Court Etiquette. — Hair versus 
Wool. — Increase of Superstition. — Arrival of Manenko ; her Appearance and 
Husband. — Mode of Salutation. — Anklets. — Embassy, with a Present from Ma- 
siko. — Roast Beef. — Manioc. — Magic Lantern. — Manenko an accomplished 
Scold: compels us to wait. — Unsuccessful Zebra-hunt 285 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Nyamoana's Present. — Charms. — Manenko's pedestrian Powers. — An Idol. — Ba- 
londa Arms. — Rain. — Hunger. — Palisades. — Dense Forests. — Artificial Bee- 
hives. — Mushrooms. — ^Villagers lend the Roofs of their Houses. — Divination and 
Idols. — Manenko's Whims. — A night Alarm. — Shinte's Messengers and Present. 
— The proper Way to approach a Village. — A Merman. — Enter Shinte's Town: i 
its Appearance. — Meet two half-caste Slave-traders. — The Makololo scorn them. 
— The Balonda real Negroes. — Grand Reception from Shinte. — His Kotla. — 
Ceremonv of Introduction. — The Orators. — Women. — Musicians and Musical 



xvi CONTENTS. 

Instruments. — A disagreeable Bequest. — Private Interviews with Shinte. — Give 
him an Ox. — Fertility of Soil. — Manenko's new Hut. — Conversation with Shinte. 
— Kolimbota's Proposal. — Balonda's Punctiliousness. — Selling Children. — Kid- 
napping. — Shinte's Offer of a Slave. — Magic Lantern. — Alarm of Women. — De- 
lay. — Sambanza returns intoxicated. — The last and greatest Proof of Shinte's 
Friendship Page 303 

CHAPTEE XVII. 

Leave Shinte. — Manioc Gardens. — Mode of preparing the poisonous kind. — 
Its general Use. — Presents of Food. — Punctiliousness of the Balonda. — 
Their Idols and Superstition. — Dress of the Balonda. — Villages beyond 
Lonaje. — Cazembe. — Our Guides and the Makololo. — Night Eains. — Inqui- 
ries for English cotton Goods. — Intemese's Fiction. — Visit from an old Man. — 
Theft. — Industry of our Guide. — Loss of Pontoon. — Plains covered with 
Water. — Affection of the Balonda for their Mothers. — A Night on an Isl- 
and. — The Grass on the Plains. — Source of the Rivers. — Loan of the Roofs 
of Huts. — A Halt. — Fertility of the Country through which the Lokalueje 
flows. — Omnivorous Fish. — Natives' Mode of catching them.— The Village of a 
Half-brother of Katema, his Speech and Present. — Our Guide's Perversity. — 
Mozenkwa's pleasant Home and Family. — Clear Water of the flooded Rivers. — 
A Messenger from Katema. — Quendende's Village : his Kindness. — Crop of 
Wool. — Meet People from the Town of Matiamvo. — Fireside Talk. — Matiam- 
vo's Character and Conduct. — Presentation at Katema's Court : his Present, 
good Sense, and Appearance. — Interview on the following Day. — Cattle. — A 
Feast and a Makololo Dance. — Arrest of a Fugitive. — Dignified old Courtier. — 
Katema's lax Government. — Cold Wind from the North. — Canaries and other 
singing Birds. — Spiders, their Nests and Webs. — Lake Dilolo. — Tradition. — Sa:- 
gaeity of Ants 32G 

CHAPTER XVin. 

The Watershed between the northern and southern Rivers. — A deep Vallej. — 
Rustic Bridge. — Fountains on the Slopes of the Valleys. — Village of Ka- 
binje. — Good Effects of the Belief in the Power of Charms. — Demand for Gun- 
powder and English Calico. — The Kasai. — Vexatious Trick. — Want of Food. — 
No Game. — Katende's unreasonable Demand. — A grave Offense. — Toll-bridge 
Keeper. — Greedy Guides. — Flooded Valleys. — Swim the Nuana Loke. — 
Prompt Kindness of my Men. — Makololo Remarks on the rich uncultivated 
Valleys. — Difference in the Color of Africans. — Reach a Village of the Chi- 
boque. — The Head Man's impudent Message. — Surrounds our Encampment with 
his Warriors. — The Pretense. — Their Demand. — Prospect of a Fight. — Way in 
which it was averted. — Change our Path. — Summer. — Fever. — Beehives and the 
Honey-guide. — Instinct of Trees. — Climbers. — The Ox Sinbad. — Absence of 
Thorns in the Forests. — Plant peculiar to a forsaken Garden. — Bad Guides. — 
Insubordination suppressed. — Beset by Enemies. — A Robber Party. — More 
Troubles. — Detained by longa Panza. — His Village, — Annoyed by Bangala 
Traders. — My Men discouraged. — Their Determination and Precaution 355 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Guides prepaid. — Bark Canoes. — Deserted by Guides. — Mistakes respecting the 
Coanza. — Feelings of freed Slaves. — Gardens and Villages. — Native Traders. — 



CONTENTS. xvii 

A Grave. — Valley of the Quango. — Bamboo. — ^White LarvEe^ used as Food. — 
Bashinje Insolence. — A posing Question. — The Chief Sansawe. — His Hostility. 
— Pass him safely. — The Eiver Quango. — Chief's mode of dressing his Hair. — 
Opposition. — Opportune Aid by Cypriano. — His generous Hospitality. — Ability of 
Half-castes to read and write. — Books and Images. — Marauding Party burned 
in the Grass. — Arrive at Cassange. — A good Supper. — Kindness of Captain 
Neves. — Portuguese Curiosity and Questions. — Anniversary of the Eesurrection. 
— No Prejudice against Color. — Country around Cassange. — Sell Sekeletu's Ivory. 
— Makololo's Surprise at the high Price obtained. — Proposal to return Home, and 
Eeasons. — Soldier-guide. — Hill Kasala. — Tala Mungongo, Village of. — Civility of 
Basongo. — True Negroes. — A Field of Wheat. — Carriers. — Sleeping-places. — 
Fever. — Enter District of Ambaca. — Good Fruits of Jesuit Teaching. — The Tam- 
pan ; its Bite. — Universal Hospitality of the Portuguese. — A Tale of the Mam- 
bari. — Exhilarating Effects of Highland Scenery, — District of Golungo Alto. — 
Want of good Eoads. — Fertility. — Forests of gigantic Timber. — Native Carpen- 
ters. — Coffee Estate. — Sterility of Country near the Coast. — Musquitoes. — Fears 
of the Makololo. — Welcome by Mr. Gabriel to Loanda Page 383 

CHAPTEE XX. 

Continued Sickness. — Kindness of the Bishop of Angola and her Majesty's Offi- 
cers. — Mr. Gabriel's unwearied Hospitality. — Serious Deportment of the Mako- 
lolo. — They visit Ships of War. — Politeness of the Officers and Men. — The Ma- 
kololo attend Mass in the Cathedral. — Their Eemarks. — Find Employment in 
collecting Firewood and unloading Coal. — Their superior Judgment respecting 
Goods. — Beneficial Influence of the Bishop of Angola. — The City of St. Paul 
de Loanda. — The Harbor. — Custom-house. — No English Merchants. — Sincerity 
of the Portuguese Government in suppressing the Slave-trade. — Convict Soldiers. 
— Presents from Bishop and Merchants for Sekeletu. — Outfit. — Leave Loanda 
20th September, 1854. — Accompanied by Mr. Gabriel as far as Icollo i Bengo. — 
Sugar Manufactory. — Geology of this part of the Countiy. — ^Women spinning 
Cotton. — Its Price. — Native Weavers. — Market-places. — Cazengo ; its Coffee 
Plantations. — South American Trees. — Euins of Iron Foundry. — Native Miners. 
— The Banks of the Lucalla. — Cottages with Stages. — Tobacco-plants. — Town 
of Massangano. — Sugar and Eice. — Superior District for Cotton. — Portuguese 
Merchants and foreign Enterprise. — Euins. — The Fort and its ancient Guns. — 
Former Importance of Massangano. — ^Fires. — The Tribe Kisama. — Peculiar Va- 
riety of Domestic Fowl.— Coffee Plantations.— Eeturn to Golungo Alto. — Self- 
complacency of the Makololo. — Fever. — Jaundice. — Insanity....: 422 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Visit a deserted Convent. — Favorable Eeport of Jesuits and their Teaching. — Gra- 
dations of native Society. — Punishment of Thieves. — Palm-toddy ; its baneful 
Effects.— Freemasons. — Marriages and Funerals. — Litigation. — Mr. Canto's Ill- 
ness. — Bad Behavior of his Slaves. — An Entertainment. — Ideas on Free Labor. — 
Loss of American Cotton-seed. — Abundance of Cotton in the country. — Sickness 
of Sekeletu's Horse.— Eclipse of the Sun. — Insects which distill Water.— Experi- 
ments with them.— Proceed to Ambaca.— Sickly Season,— Office of Commandant. 
—Punishment of official Delinquents.— Present from Mr. Schut of Loanda.— Visit 
Pungo Andongo.— Its good Pasturage, Grain, Fruit, etc.— The Fort and columnar 
Rocks.— The Queen of Jinga.— Salubrity of Pungo Andongo,— Price of a Slave. — 

2 



xviii CONTENTS. 

A Merchant-prince. — His Hospitality. — Hear of the Loss of my Papers in "Fore- 
runner." — Narrow Escape from an Alligator. — Ancient Burial-places. — Neglect 
of Agriculture in Angola. — Manioc the staple Product. — Its Cheapness. — Sickness. 
— Friendly Visit from a colored Priest. — The Prince of Congo. — No Priests in the 
Interior of Angola Page 444 

CHAPTEK XXII. 
Leave Pungo Andongo. — Extent of Portuguese Power. — Meet Traders and Carri- 
ers. — Red Ants; their fierce Attack; Usefulness; Numbers. — Descend the 
Heights of Tala Mungongo. — Fruit-trees in the Valley of Cassange. — Edible 
Muscle. — Birds. — Cassange Village. — Quinine and Cathory. — Sickness of Cap- 
tain Neves' Infant. — A Diviner thrashed. — Death of the Child. — Mourning. — 
Loss of Life from the Ordeal. — Wide-spread Superstitions. — The Chieftainship. — 
Charms. — Eeceive Copies of the "Times." — Trading Pombeiros. — Present for 
Matiamvo. — Fever after westerly Winds. — Capabilities of Angola for producing 
the raw Materials of English Manufacture. — Trading Parties with Ivory. — More 
Fever. — A Hyjcna's Choice. — Makololo Opinion of the Portuguese. — Cypriano's 
Debt. — A Funeral. — Dread of disembodied Spirits. — Beautiful Morning Scenes. 
— Crossing the Quango. — Ambakistas called "The Jews of Angola." — Fashions 
of theBashinje. — Approach the Village of Sansawe. — His Idea of Dignity. — The 
Pombeiros' Present. — Long Detention. — A Blow on the Beard. — Attacked in a 
Forest. — Sudden Conversion of a fighting Chief to Peace Principles by means of 
a Eevolver. — No Blood shed in consequence. — Rate of Traveling. — Slave Women. 
— Way of addressing Slaves. — Their thievish Propensities. — Feeders of the Con- 
go or Zaire. — Obliged to refuse Presents. — Cross the Loajima. — ^Appearance of 
People; Hair Fashions 465 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Make a Detour southward. — Peculiarities of the Inhabitants. — Scarcity of An- 
imals.^Forests. — Geological Structure of the Country. — Abundance and Cheap- 
ness of Food near the Chihombo. — A Slave lost. — The Makololo Opinion of 
Slaveholders. — Funeral Obsequies in Cabango. — Send a Sketch of the Coun- 
tiy to Mr. Gabriel. — Native Information respecting the Kasai and Quango. — 
The Trade with Luba. — Drainage of Londa. — Report of Matiamvo's Country 
and Government. — Senhor Faria's Present to a Chief. — The Balonda Mode of 
spending Time. — -Faithless Guide. — Makololo lament the Ignorance of the Ba- 
londa. — Eagerness of the Villagers for Trade. — Civility of a Female Chief. — 
The Chief Bango and his People. — Refuse to eat Beef. — Ambition of Africans 
to have a Village. — Winters in the Interior. — Spring at Kolobeng. — White Ants : 
"Never could desire to eat any thing better." — Young Herbage and Animals. — 
Valley of the Loembwe. — The white Man a Hobgoblin. — Specimen of Quarrel- 
ing. — Eager Desire for Calico. — Want of Clothing at Kawawa's. — Funeral Ob- 
servances. — Agreeable Intercourse with Kawawa. — His impudent Demand. — 
Unpleasant Parting. — Kawawa tries to prevent our crossing the River Kasai. — 
Stratagem 489 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Level Plains. — Vultures and other Birds. — Diversity of Color in Flowers of the 
same Species. — The Sundew. — Twenty-seventh Attack of Fever. — A River which 
flows in opposite Directions. — Lake Dilolo the Watershed between the Atlantic 



CONTENTS. xix 

and Indian Oceans.— Position of Rocks.— Sir Roderick Murchison's Explanation. 
Characteristics of the Rainy Season in connection with the Floods of the Zam- 
besi and the Nile.— Probable Reason of Difference in Amount of Rain South and 
North of the Equator.— Arab Reports of Region east of Londa.— Probable Wa- 
tershed of the Zambesi and the Nile.— Lake Dilolo.— Reach Katema's Town : 
his renewed Hospitality; desire to appear like a White Man; ludicrous Depart- 
ure. Jackdaws. — Ford southern Branch of Lake Dilolo. — Small Fish.— Project 

for a Makololo Village near the Confluence of the Leeba and the Leeambye. — 
Hearty Welcome from Shinte.— Kolimbota's Wound.— Plant-seeds and Fruit- 
trees brought from Angola. — Masiko and Limboa's Quarrel. — Nyamoana now a 
Widow. — Purchase Canoes and descend the Leeba. — Herds of wild Animals on 
its Banks.— Unsuccessful Buffalo-hunt.- Frogs.— Sinbad and the Tsetse.— Dis- 
patch a Message to Manenko.— Arrival of her Husband Sambanza.— The Cere- 
mony called Kasendi. — Unexpected Fee for performing a surgical Operation. — 
Social Condition of the Tribes. — Desertion of Mboenga.— Stratagem of Mam- 
bowe Hunters.— -Water-turtles.— Charged by a Buffalo. — Reception from the Peo- 
ple of Libonta. — Explain the Causes of our long Delay. — Pitsane's Speech. — 
Thanksgiving Services. — Appearance of my " Braves." — Wonderful Kindness of 
the People Page 508 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Colony of Birds called Linkololo. — The Village of Chitlane. — Murder of Mpololo's 
Daughter. — Execution of the Murderer and his Wife. — My Companions find that 
their Wives have married other Husbands. — Sunday. — A Party from Masiko. — 
Freedom of Speech. — Canoe struck by a Hippopotamus. — Gonye. — Appearance 
of Trees at the end of Winter. — Murky Atmosphere. — Surprising Amount of 
organic Life. — Hornets. — The Packages forwarded by Mr. Moffat. — Makololo 
Suspicions and Reply to the Matebele who brought them. — Convey the Goods to 
an Island and build a Hut over them. — Ascertain that Sir R. Murchison had rec- 
ognized the true Form of African Continent. — Arrival at Linyanti. — A grand 
Picho. — Shrewd Inquiry. — Sekeletu in his Uniform. — A Trading-party sent to 
Loanda with Ivory. — Mr. Gabriel's Kindness to them. — DifBculties in Trading. — 
Two Makololo Forays during our Absence. — ^Report of the Country to the N.E. 
— Death of influential Men. — The Makololo desire to be nearer the Market. — 
Opinions upon a Change of Residence. — Climate of Barotse Valley. — Diseases. 
— Author's Fevers not a fair Criterion in the Matter. — The Interior an inviting 
Field for the Philanthropist. — Consultations about a Path to the East Coast. — 
Decide on descending North Bank of Zambesi. — Wait for the Rainy Season. — 
Native way of spending Time during the period of greatest Heat. — Favorable 
Opening for Missionary Enterprise. — Ben Habib wishes to marry. — A Maiden's 
Choice. — Sekeletu's Hospitality. — Sulphureted Hydrogen and Malaria. — Con- 
versations with Makololo. — Their moral Character and Conduct. — Sekeletu wish- 
es to purchase a Sugar-mill, etc. — The Donkeys. — Influence among the Natives. 
— "Food fit for a Chief." — Parting Words of Mamire. — Motibe's Excuses.. 531 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Departure from Linyanti. — A Thunder-storm. — An Act of genuine Kindness. — 
Fitted out a second time by the Makololo. — Sail down the Leeambye. — Sekote's 
Kotla and human Skulls ; his Grave adorned with Elephants' Tusks. — Victoria 
Falls. — Native Names. — Columns of Vapor. — Gigantic Crack. — Wear of the 



XX 



CONTENTS. 



Eocks. — Shrines of the Barimo. — "The Pestle of the Gods." — Second Visit to^ 
the Falls. — Island Garden. — Store-house Island. — ^Native Diviners. — A Euro- 
pean Diviner. — Makololo Foray. — Marauder to be fined. — Mambari. — Makololo 
wish to stop Mambari Slave-trading. — Part with Sekeletu. — Night Traveling. — 
Eiver Lekone. — Ancient fresh-water Lakes. — Formation of Lake Ngami. — Na- 
tive Traditions. — Drainage of the Great Valley. — Native Reports of the Country 
to the North. — Maps. — Moyara's Village. — Savage Customs of the Batoka. — A 
Chain of Trading Stations. — Remedy against Tsetse. — "The Well of Joy." — 
First Traces of Trade with Europeans. — Knocking out the front Teeth. — Facetious 
Explanation. — Degradation of the Batoka. — Description of the Traveling Party. 
— Cross the Unguesi. — Geological Formation. — Ruins of a large Town. — Pro- 
ductions of the Soil similar to those in Angola. — Abundance of Fruit... Page 554 

CHAPTER XXVIL 

Low Hills. — Black Soldier-Ants ; their Cannibalism. — The Plasterer and its Chlo- 
roform. — White Ants; their Usefulness. — Mutokwane-smoking ; its Effects. — 
Border Territory. — Healthy Table-lands. — Geological Formation. — Cicadae. — 
Trees. — Flowers. — Eiver Kalomo. — Physical Conformation of Country. — Ridges, 
sanatoria. — A wounded Buffalo assisted. — Buffalo-bird. — Rhinoceros -bird. — 
Leaders of Herds. — The Honey-guide. — The White Mountain. — Mozuma River. 
— Sebituane's old Home. — Hostile Village. — Prophetic Phrensy. — Food of the El- 
ephant. — Ant-hills. — Friendly Batoka. — Clothing despised. — Method of Saluta- 
tion. — Wild Fruits. — The Captive released. — Longings for Peace. — Pingola's 
Conquests. — The Village of Monze. — Aspect of the Country. — Visit from the 
Chief Monze and his Wife. — Central healthy Locations. — Friendly Feelings of 
the People in reference to a white Resident. — Fertility of the Soil. — Bashuku- 
lompo Mode of dressing their Hair. — Gratitude of the Prisoner we released. — 
Kindness and Remarks of Monze's Sister. — Dip of the Rocks. — Vegetation. — 
Generosity of the Inhabitants. — Their Anxiety for Medicine. — Hooping-cough. 
— ^Birds and Rain 575 

CHAPTER XXVni. 

Beautiful Valley. — Buffalo. — My young Men kill two Elephants. — The Hunt. — 
Mode of measuring Height of live Elephants. — Wild Animals smaller here than 
in the South, though their Food is more abundant. — The Elephant a dainty 
Feeder. — Semalembue. — His Presents — Joy in prospect of living in Peace. — 
Trade. — His People's way of wearing their Hair. — Their Mode of Salutation. — 
Old Encampment. — Sebituane's former Residence. — Ford of Kafue. — Hippopot- 
ami. — Hills and Villages. — Geological Formation. — Prodigious Quantities of 
large Game. — Their Tameness. — Rains. — Less Sickness than in the Journey to 
Loanda. — Reason. — Charge from an Elephant. — Vast Amount of animal Life 

on the Zambesi. — Water of River discolored. An Island with Buffaloes and 

Men on it. — Native Devices for killing Game. — Tsetse now in Country. — Agri- 
cultural Industry. — An Albino murdered by his Mother. — " Guilty of Tlolo." — 
Women who make their Mouths "like those of Ducks."— First Symptom of the 
Slave-trade on this side. — Selole's Hostility. — An armed Party hoaxed. — An 
Italian Marauder slain. — Elephant's Tenacity of Life. — A Word to young Sports- 
men. — Mr. Oswell's Adventure with an Elephant ; narrow Escape. — Mburuma's 
Village. — Suspicious Conduct of his People. — Guides attempt to detain us. — The 
Village and People of Ma Mburuma. — Character our Guides give of us 599 



CONTENTS. 



XXI 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Confluence of Loangwa and Zambesi. — Hostile Appearances. — ^Ruins of a Church. — 
Turmoil of Spirit. — Cross the River. — Friendly Parting. — Ruins of stone Houses. 
— The Situation of Zumbo for Commerce. — Pleasant Gardens. — Dr. Lacerda's 
Visit to Cazembe. — Pereira's Statement. — Unsuccessful Attempt to establish Trade 
with the People of Cazembe. — One of my Men tossed by a Buffalo. — Meet a Man 
with Jacket and Hat on. — Hear of the Portuguese and native War. — Holms and 
Terraces on the Banks of a River. — Dancing for Corn. — Beautiful Country. — 
Mpende's Hostility. — Incantations. — A Fight anticipated. — Courage and Re- 
marks of my Men. — ^Visit from two old Councilors of Mpende. — Their Opinion 
of the English. — Mpende concludes not to fight us. — His subsequent Friendship. — 
Aids us to cross the River. — The Country. — Sweet Potatoes. — Bakwain Theory of 
Rain confirmed. — Thunder without Clouds. — Desertion of one of my Men. — Other 
Natives' Ideas of the English. — Dalama (gold). — Inhabitants dislike Slave-buyers. — 
Meet native Traders with American Calico. — Game-laws. — Elephant Medicine. — 
Salt from the Sand. — Fertility of Soil. — Spotted Hysena. — Liberality and Polite- 
ness of the People. — Presents. — A stingy white Trader. — Natives' Remarks about 
him. — Efi'ect on their Minds. — Rain and Wind now from an opposite Direction. — 
Scarcity of Fuel. — Trees for Boat-building. — Boroma. —Freshets. — Leave the 
River. — Chicova, its Geological Features. — Small Rapid near Tete. — Loquacious 
Guide. — Nyampungo, the Rain-charmer. — An old Man. — No Silver. — Gold- 
-No Cattle Page 625 



CHAPTER XXX. 
An Elephant-hunt. — Offering and Prayers to the Barimo for Success. — ^Native 
Mode of Expression. — Working of Game-laws. — ^A Feast. — Laughing Hyasnas. 
— Numerous Insects. — Curious Notes of Birds of Song. — Caterpillars. — Butter- 
flies. — Silica. — The Fruit Makoronga and Elephants. — Rhinoceros Adventure. 
— Korwe Bird. — Its Nest. — A real Confinement. — Honey and Beeswax. — Super- 
stitious Reverence for the Lion. — Slow Traveling. — Grapes. — The Ue. — Monina's 
Village. — Native Names. — Government of the Banyai. — Electing a Chief. — 
Youths instructed in " Bonyai" — Suspected of Falsehood. — ^War-dance. — Insan- 
ity and Disappearance of Monahin. — Fruitless Search. — Monina's Sympathy. — 
The Sand-river Tangwe. — The Ordeal Muavi : its Victims. — An unreasonable 
Man. — "Woman's Rights." — Presents. — Temperance. — A winding Course to 
shun Villages. — Banyai Complexion and Hair. — Mushrooms. — The Tubers, Mo- 
kuri. — The Tree Shekabakadzi. — Face of the Country. — Pot-holes. — Pursued by 
a Party of Natives. — Unpleasant Threat. — Aroused by a Company of Soldiers. — 
A civilized Breakfast. — Arrival at Tete 650 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
Kind Reception from the Commandant. — His Generosity to my Men. — The Vil- 
lage of Tete. — The Population. — Distilled Spirits. — The Fort. — Cause of the De- 
cadence of Portuguese Power. — Former Trade. — Slaves employed in Gold-wash- 
ing. — Slave-trade drained the Country of Laborers. — The Rebel Nyaude's Stock- 
ade. — He burns Tete. — Kisaka's Revolt and Ravages. — Extensive Field of Sugar- 
cane. — The Commandant's good Reputation among the Natives. — Providential 
Guidance. — Seams of Coal. — A hot Spring. — Picturesque Country. — Water-car- 
riage to the Coal-fields. — Workmen's Wages. — Exports. — Price of Provisions. — 
Visit Gold-washings. — The Process of obtaining the precious Metal. — Coal within 



xxii CONTENTS. 

a Gold-field. — Present from Major Sicard. — Natives raise Wheat, etc. — ^Liberal- 
ity of the Commandant. — Geographical Information from Senhor Candido. — 
Earthquakes. — Native Ideas of a Supreme Being. — Also of the Immortality and 
Transmigration of Souls. — Eondness for Display at Funerals. — Trade Eestric- 
tions. — Former Jesuit Establishment. — State of Eeligion and Education at Tete. 
— Inundation of the Zambesi. — Cotton cultivated. — The fibrous Plants Conge 
and Buaze. — Detained by Fever. — The Kumbanzo Bark. — ^Native Medicines. — 
Iron, its Quality. — Hear of Famine at Kilimane. — Death of a Portuguese Lady. 
— The Funeral. — Disinterested Kindness of the Portuguese Page 673 

CHAPTER XXXn. 

Leave Tete and proceed down the River. — Pass the Stockade of Bonga. — Gorge 
of Lupata. — " Spine of the World." — Width of River. — Islands. — ^War Drum at 
Shiramba. — Canoe Navigation. — Reach Senna, — Its ruinous State. — Landeens 
levy Fines upon the Inhabitants. — Cowardice of native Militia. — State of the 
Revenue. — No direct Trade with Portugal. — Attempts to revive the Trade of 
Eastern Africa. — Country round Senna. — Gorongozo, a Jesuit Station. — Manica, 
the best Gold Region in Eastern Africa. — Boat-building at Senna. — Our Depart- 
ure. — Capture of a Rebel Stockade. — Plants Alfacinya and Njefu at the Conflu- 
ence of the Shire. — Landeen Opinion of the Whites. — Mazaro, the point reached 
by Captain Parker. — His Opinion respecting the Navigation of the River from 
this to the Ocean. — Lieutenant Hoskins' Remarks on the same subject. — ^Fever, 
its Effects. — Kindly received into the House of Colonel Nunes at Kilimane. — 
Forethought of Captain NoUoth and Dr. Walsh. — Joy imbittered. — Deep Obli- 
gations to the Earl of Clarendon, etc. — On developing Resources of the Interior. 
— Desirableness of Missionary Societies selecting healthy Stations. — Arrange- 
ments on leaving my Men. — Retrospect. — Probable Influence of the Discoveries 
on Slavery. — Supply of Cotton, Sugar, etc., by Free Labor. — Commercial Sta- 
tions.— Development of the Resources of Africa a Work of Time. — Site of Kili- 
mane. — Unhealthiness. — Death of a shipwrecked Crew from Fever. — The Cap- 
tain saved by Quinine. — Arrival of H. M. Brig " Frolic." — Anxiety of one of my 
Men to go to England. — Rough Passage in the Boats to the Ship. — Sekwebu's 
Alarm. — Sail for Mauritius. — Sekwebu on board ; he becomes insane ; drowns 
himself. — Kindness of Major-General C. M. Hay. — Escape Shipwreck. — Reach 
Home 699 

Appendix 729 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1. The Victoria Falls of the Leeambye or Zambesi Eiver Frontispiece. 

2. Author's Portrait To face -page 1 

3. The Missionary's Escape from the Lion Page 13 

4. The Hopo, or Trap for driving Game 29 

5. The Pit at the Extremity of the Hopo 32 

6. Bakalahari Women filling their Egg-shells and Water-skins at a Pool in 

the Desert 58 

7. Hottentots. — Women returning from the Water, and Men around a dead 

Hartebeest 65 

8. Lake Ngami, discovered by Osvi^ell, Murray, and Livingstone 77 

9. New African Antelopes (Poku and Leche) 84 

10. Three Lions attempting to drag down a Buffalo 155 

11. Buffalo Cow defending her Calf..... 159 

12. Mopane or Bauhinia Leaves, with the Insect and its edible Secretions 182 

13. Egyptian Pestle and Mortar, Sieves, Corn-vessels, and Kilt 213 

14. A Batoka Hoe 216 

15. A new or striped variety of Eland, found north of Sesheke 229 

16. Mode in which the female Hippopotamus cari'ies her Calf while young 263 

17. Reception of the Mission by Shinte 314 

18. The Marimba, or Musical Instrument of the Balonda 317 

19. Shell, and Ornament made of its End 324 

20. Bechuana Reed-dance by Moonlight 346 

21. River Scenery on the West Coast 359 

22. Seed-vessel of the Grapple-plant 374 

23. Bashinje Chief's mode of wearing the Hair 393 

24. Scfene in Angola. — The Angolese Palanquin under a Baobab and Euphor- 

bias 403 

25. Scene at a Sleeping-place in Angola 411 

26. St. Paul de Loanda — the Fort of San Miguel on the right 427 

27. Ancient Spinning and Weaving, perpetuated in Africa at the present day. 

From Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians" 434 

28. Double-handled Angola Hoe 442 

29. Group of Native Women under the Mokolane Palms 447 

30. A few of the Rocks of Pungo Andongo 457 

31-33. Londa Ladies' modes of wearing the Hair .' 486, 487 

34. A young Man's Fashion 488 

35. An African Chief's Notion of Dignity 518 

36. Boat capsized by a Hippopotamus robbed of her Young 536 

37. Bashukulompo mode of wearing the Hair 596 

38. Female Elephant pursued with Javelins, protecting her Young 602 



xxiv I'IST OF ILLUSTRA.TIONS. 

39. Coins of Faustina the Elder and Septimius Severus Page 605 

40. Ideal Section across South Central Africa To face page 610 

41. The Tsetse Page 612 

42. The Traveling Procession interrupted 630 

43. Presentation at Court (to Mosilikatse) of two successful young Lion- 

hunters 664 

44. The Buaze 691 

45. The Kumbanzo Leaves, Pods, and Seeds 693 

46. Map of South Africa ) ^, , ., . , , 

tm -a/r i?T~v T- • i. ) 13 ^ ^ John Arrowsmith At the end, 

47. Map of Dr. LnangstonesEoute..) .. -^ » 


















f^-^\-i- -i 








THE VICTORIA FALLS OF THE LEEAMBTE OK ZAMBESI KI1 




LLED BY THE NATIVES MOSTOATUNYO (sMOKE-SOUNDING). 



JOUKNEYS AND EESEAECHES 



IN 



SOUTH AFRICA. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Personal Sketch. — Highland Ancestors. — Family Traditions. — Grandfather removes 
to the Lowlands. — Parents. — Early Labors and EiForts. — Evening School. — Love 
of Reading. -*-Eeligious Impressions. — Medical Education. — Youthful Travels. — 
Geology. — Mental DiscipHne. — Study in Glasgow. — London Missionary Society. — 
Native Village. — Medical Diploma. — Theological Studies. — Departure for Africa. 
— No Claim to Literary Accomplishments. 

My own inclination would lead me to say as little as possible 
about myself; but several friends, in whose judgment I have 
confidence, have suggested that, as the reader likes to know 
something about the author, a short account of his origin and 
early life would lend additional interest to this book. Such is 
my excuse for the following egotism ; and, if an apology be 
necessary for giving a geneal6gy, I find it in the fact that it is 
not very long, and contains only one incident of which I have 
reason to be proud. 

Our great-grandfather fell at the battle of CuUoden, fighting 
for the old line of kings ; and our grandfather was a small farmer 
in Ulva, where my father was born. It is one of that cluster of 
the Hebrides thus alluded to by Walter Scott : 

"And Ulva dark, and Colonsay, 
And all the group of islets gay 
That guard famed Staffa round."* 

Our grandfather was intimately acquainted with all the tradi- 
tionary legends which that great writer has since made use of in 
* Lord of the Isles, canto iv. 

A 



2 THE AUTHOE'S ANCESTORS. 

the "• Tales of a Grandfather" and other works. As a hoy I re- 
member listening to him with delight, for his memory was stored 
with a never-ending stock of stories, many of which were wonder- 
fully like those I have since heard while sitting Tby the African 
evening fires. Our grandmother, too, used to sing Gaelic songs, 
some of which, as she believed, had been composed by captive 
islanders languisliing hopelessly among the Turks. 

Grandfather could give particulars of the lives of his ancestors 
for six generations of the family before him ; and the only point 
of the tradition I feel proud of is this : One of these poor hardy 
islanders was renowned in the district for great wisdom and 
prudence ; and it is related that, when he was on his death-bed, 
he called all his children around him and said, "Now, in my 
lifetime, I have searched most carefully through all the traditions 
I could find of our family, and I never could discover that there 
was a dishonest man among our forefathers. If, therefore, an.y 
of you or any of your children should take to dishonest ways, 
it will not be because it runs in our blood : it doe^ not belong 
to you. I leave this precept with you: Be honest." If, there- 
fore, in the following pages I fall into any errors, I hope they 
will be dealt with as honest mistakes, and not as indicating that 
I have forgotten our ancient motto. This event took place at a 
time when the Highlanders, according to Macaulay, were much 
like the Cape Caffres, and any one, it was said, could escape pun- 
ishment for cattle-stealing by presenting a share of the plunder to 
his chieftain. Our ancestors were Roman Catholics ; they were 
made Protestants by the laird coming round with a man having 
a yellow staff, which would seem to have attracted more attention 
than his teaching, for the new religion went long afterward, per- 
haps it does so still, by the name of " the religion of the yellow 
stick." 

Finding his farm in Ulva insufficient to support a numerous 
family, my grandfather removed to Blantyre Works, a large 
cotton manufactory on the beautiful Clyde, above Glasgow ; and 
his sons, having had the best education the Hebrides afibrded, 
were gladly received as clerks by the proprietors, Monteith and 
Co. He himself, highly esteemed for his unflinching honesty, 
was employed in the conveyance of large sums of money from 
Glasgow to the works, and in old age was, according to the 



EAELY LABORS AND INSTRUCTIONS. 3 

custom of that company, pensioned off, so as to spend his declin- 
ing years in ease and comfort. 

Our uncles all entered his majesty's service during the last 
French war, either as soldiers or sailors ; hut my father remained 
at home, and, though too conscientious ever to become rich as a 
small tea-dealer, hy his kindliness of manner and winning ways 
he made the heart-strings of his children twine around him as 
firmly as if he had possessed, and could have bestowed upon 
them, every worldly advantage. He reared his children in con- 
nection' with the Kirk of Scotland — a religious establishment 
which has been an incalculable blessing to that country — but he 
afterward left it, and during the last twenty years of his life held 
the office of deacon of an independent church in Hamilton, and 
deserved my lasting gratitude and homage for presenting me, 
from my infancy, with a continuously consistent pious example, 
such as that the ideal of which is so beautifully and truthfully 
portrayed in Burns's "Cottar's Saturday Night." He died in 
February, 1856, in peaceful hope of that mercy which we all ex- 
pect through the death of our Lord and Savior. I was at the 
time on my way below Zumbo, expecting no greater pleasure in 
this country than sitting by our cottage fire and telling him my 
travels. I revere his memory. 

The earliest recollection of my mother recalls a picture so oft- 
en seen among the Scottish poor — that of the anxious housewife 
striving to make both ends meet. At the age of ten I was put 
into the factory as a "piecer," to aid by my earnings in lessening 
her anxiety. With a part of my first week's wages I purchased 
Kuddiman's "Eudiments of Latin," and pursued the study of that 
language for many years afterward, with unabated ardor, at an 
evening school, which met between the hours of eight and ten. 
The dictionary part of my labors was followed up till twelve 
o'clock, or later, if my mother did not interfere by jumping up 
and snatching the books out of my hands. I had to be back in 
the factory by six in the morning, and continue my work, with 
intervals for breakfast and dinner, till eight o'clock at night. I 
read in this way many of the classical authors, and knew Virgil 
and Horace better at sixteen than I do now. Our schoolmaster 
— happily still alive — was supported in part by the company ; he 
was attentive and kind, and so moderate in his charg'es that all 



4 KELIGIOUS IMPEESSIONS. 

who wished for education might have obtained it. Many availed 
themselves of the privilege ; and some of my schoolfellows now 
rank in positions far above what they appeared ever likely to 
come to when in the village school. If such a system were es- 
tablished in England, it would prove a never-ending blessing to 
the poor. 

In reading, every thing that I could lay my hands on was de- 
voured except novels. Scientitic works and books of travels were 
my especial delight ; though my father, believing, with many of 
his time who ought to have known better, that the former were 
inimical to religion, would have preferred to have seen me poring 
over the "Cloud of Witnesses," or Boston's "Fourfold State." 
Our difference of opinion reached the point of open rebellion on 
my part, and his last application of the rod was on my refusal to 
peruse Wilberforce's " Practical Christianity." This dislike to 
dry doctrinal reading, and to religious reading of every sort, con- 
tinued for years afterward ; but having lighted on those admirable 
works of Dr. Thomas Dick, " The Philosophy of Religion" and 
" The Philosophy of a Future State," it was gratifying to find my 
own ideas, that religion and science are not hostile, but friendly to 
each other, fully proved and enforced. 

Great pains had been taken by my parents to instill the doc- 
trines of Christianity into my mind, and I had no difficulty in un- 
derstanding the theory of our free salvation by the atonement of 
our Savior, but it was only about this time that I really began to 
feel the necessity and value of a personal application of the pro- 
visions of that atonement to my own case. The change was 
like what may be supposed would take place were it possible to 
cure a case of "color blindness." The perfect freeness with 
which the pardon of all our guilt is offered in God's book drew 
forth feelings of affectionate love to Him who bought us with his 
blood, and a sense of deep obligation to Him for his mercy has 
influenced, in some small measure, my conduct ever since. But 
I shall not again refer to the inner spiritual life which I believe 
then began, nor do I intend to specify with any prominence the 
evangelistic labors to which the love of Christ has since impelled 
me. This book will speak, not so much of what has been done, 
as of what still remains to be performed, before the Gospel can be 
said to be preached to all nations. 



YOUTHFUL EXCUKSIONS. 5 

In the glow of love which Christianity inspires, I soon resolved 
to devote my life to the alleviation of human misery. Turning 
this idea over in my mind, I felt that to be a pioneer of Chris- 
tianity in China might lead to the material benefit of some por- 
tions of that immense empire ; and therefore set myself to ob- 
tain a medical education, in order to be qualified for that en- 
terprise. 

In recognizing the plants pointed out in my first medical book, 
that extraordinary old work on astrological medicine, Culpeper's 
" Herbal," I had the guidance of a book on the plants of Lanark- 
shire, by Patrick. Limited as my time was, I found opportunities 
to scour the whole country-side, "• collecting simples." Deep and 
anxious were my studies on the still deeper and more perplexing 
profundities of astrology, and I believe I got as far into that abyss 
of phantasies as my author said he dared to lead me. It seemed 
perilous ground to tread on farther, for the dark hint seemed to 
my youthful mind to loom toward " selling soul and body to 
the devil," as the price of the unfathomable knowledge of the 
stars. These excursions, often in company with brothers, one 
now in Canada, and the other a clergyman in the United States, 
gratified my intense love of nature ; and though we generally re- 
turned so unmercifully hungry and fatigued that the embryo par- 
son shed tears, yet we discovered, to us, so many new and inter- 
esting things, that he was always as eager to join us next time as 
he was the last. 

On one of these exploring tours we entered a limestone quarry 
— long before geology was so popular as it is now. It is impos- 
sible to describe the delight and wonder with which I began to 
collect the shells found in the carboniferous limestone which crops 
out in High Blantyre and Cambuslang. A quarry-man, seeing 
a little boy so engaged, looked with that pitying eye which the 
benevolent assume when viewing the insane. Addressing him 
with, " How ever did these shells come into these rocks ?" 
"When God made the rocks, he made the shells in them," was 
the damping reply. What a deal of trouble geologists might have 
saved themselves by adopting the Turk-like philosophy of this 
Scotchman ! 

My reading while at work was carried on by placing the book 
on a portion of the spinning-jenny, so that I could catch sentence 



Q THE AUTHOE'S NATIVE VILLAGE. 

after sentence as I passed at mj work ; I thus kept up a pretty 
constant study undisturbed by the roar of the machinery. To 
this part of my education I owe my present power of completely 
abstracting the mind from surrounding noises, so as to read and 
write with perfect comfort amid the play of children or near the 
dancing and songs of savages. The toil of cotton-spinning, to 
which I was promoted in my nineteenth year, was excessively 
severe on a slim, loose-jointed lad, but it was well paid for ; and 
it enabled me to support myself while attending medical and 
Greek classes in Glasgow in winter, as also the divinity lectures 
of Dr. Wardlaw, by working with my hands in summer. I never 
received a farthing of aid from any one, and should have accom- 
plished my project of going to China as a medical missionary, in 
the course of time, by my own efforts, had not some friends ad- 
vised my joining the London Missionary Society on account of 
its perfectly unsectarian character. It " sends neither Episcopacy, 
nor Presbyterianism, nor Independency, but the Gospel of Christ 
to the heathen." This exactly agreed with my ideas of what a 
missionary society ought to do ; but it was not without a pang 
that I offered myself, for it was not quite agreeable to one accus- 
tomed to work his own way to become in a measure dependent on 
others ; and I would not have been much put about though my 
offer had been rejected. 

Looking back now on that life of toil, I can not but feel thank- 
ful that it formed such a material part of my early education : 
and, were it possible, I should like to begin life over again in the 
same lowly style, and to pass through the same hardy training. 

Time and travel have not effaced the feelings of respect I 
imbibed for the humble inhabitants of my native village. For 
morality, honesty, and intelligence, they were, in general, good 
specimens of the Scottish poor. In a population of more than 
two thousand souls, we had, of course, a variety of character. In 
addition to the common run of men, there were some characters 
of sterling worth and ability, who exerted a most beneficial 
influence on the children and youth of the place by imparting 
gratuitous religious instruction.* Much intelligent interest was 

* The reader will pardon my mentioning the names of two of these most wor- 
thy men — David Hogg, who addressed me on his death-bed with the words, " Now. 
lad, make religion the every-day business of your life, and not a thing of fits and 



MEDICAL DIPLOMA. 7 

felt hj the villagers in all public questions, and they furnished a 
proof that the possession of the means of education did not render 
them an unsafe portion of the population. They felt kindly to- 
ward each other, and much respected those of the neighboring 
gentry who, like the late Lord Douglas, placed some confidence 
in their sense of honor. Through the kindness of that nobleman, 
the poorest among us could stroll at pleasure over the ancient 
domains of Bothwell, and other spots hallowed by the venerable 
associations of which our school-books and local traditions made 
us well aware ; and few of us could view the dear memorials of 
the past' without feeling that these carefully kept monuments were 
our own. The masses of the working-people of Scotland have 
read history, and are no revolutionary levelers. They rejoice in 
the memories of "Wallace and Bruce and a' the lave," who are 
still much revered as the former champions of freedom. And 
while foreigners imagine that we want the spirit only to overturn 
capitalists and aristocracy, we are content to respect our laws till 
we can change them, and hate those stupid revolutions which 
might sweep away time-honored institutions, dear alike to rich 
and poor. 

Having finished the medical curriculum and presented a thesis 
on a subject which required the use of the stethoscope for its 
diagnosis, I unwittingly procured for myself an examination rath- 
er more severe and prolonged than usual among examining bod- 
ies. The reason was, that between me and the examiners a 
slight difference of opinion existed as to whether this instrument 
could do what was asserted. The wiser plan would have been to 
have had no opinion of my own. However, I was admitted a 
Licentiate of Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons. It was with 
unfeigned delight I became a member of a profession which is 
pre-eminently devoted to practical benevolence, and which with 
unwearied energy pursues from age to age its endeavors to lessen 
human woe. 

But though now qualified for my original plan, the opium war 
was then raging, and it was deemed inexpedient for me to proceed 

starts; for if you do not, temptation and other things will get the better of you ;" 
and Thomas Burke, an old Forty-second Peninsula soldier, who has been incessant 
and never weary in good works for about forty years. I was delighted to find him 
still alive ; men like these are an honor to their country and profession. 



8 NO CLAIM TO LITERAEY MERIT. 

to China. I had fondly hoped to have gained access to that then 
closed empire by means of the healing art ; but there being no 
prospect of an early peace with the Chinese, and as another in- 
viting field was opening out through the labors of Mr. Moifat, 
I was induced to turn my thoughts to Afirica ; and after a more 
extended course of theological training in England than I had 
enjoyed in Glasgow, I embarked for Africa in 1840, and, after a 
voyage of three months, reached Cape Town. Spending but a 
short time there, I started for the interior by going round to Al- 
goa Bay, and soon proceeded inland, and have spent the follow- 
ing sixteen years of my life, namely, from 1840 to 1856, in med- 
ical and missionary labors there without cost to the inhabitants. 

As to those literary qualifications 'vyhich are acquired by habits 
of writing, and which are so important to an author, my African 
life has not only not been favorable to the growth of such accom- 
plishments, but quite the reverse ; it has made composition irk- 
some and laborious. I think I would rather cross the African 
continent again than undertake to write another book. It is i^r 
easier to travel than to write about it. I intended on going to 
Africa to continue my studies ; but as I could not brook the idea 
of simply entering into other men's labors made ready to my hands, 
I entailed on myself, in addition to teaching, manual labor in 
building and other handicraft work, which made me generally as 
much exhausted and unfit for study in the evenings as ever I had 
been when a cotton-spinner. The want of time for self-improve- 
ment was the only source of regret that I experienced during my 
African career. The reader, remembering this, will make allow- 
ances for the mere gropings for light of a student who has the 
vanity to think himself " not yet too old to learn." More precise 
information on several subjects has necessarily been omitted in a 
popular work like the present ; but I hope to give such details to 
the scientific reader through some other channel. 



THE BAKWAm COUNTEY. 



CHAPTER I. 

The Bakwain Country. — Study of the Language. — ^Native Ideas regarding Comets. 
— Mabotsa Station. — A Lion Encounter. — Virus of the Teeth of Lions. — Names 
of the Bechuana Tribes. — Sechele. — His Ancestors. — Obtains the Chieftainship. 
— His Marriage and Government. — The Kotla. — First public Keligious Services. 
— Sechele's Questions. — He Learns to Eead. — Novel mode for Converting his 
Tribe. — Surprise at their Indifference. — Polygamy. — Baptism of Sechele. — Oppo- 
sition of the Natives. — Purchase Land at Chonuane. — Eelations with the People. 
— Their Intelligence. — Prolonged Drought. — Consequent Trials. — Eain-medi- 
cine. — God's Word blamed. — Native Eeasoning. — Eain-maker. — Dispute between 
Eain Doctor and Medical Doctor. — The Hunting Hopo. — Salt or animal Food a 
necessary of Life. — Duties of a Missionary. 

The general instructions I received from the Directors of the 
London Missionary Society led me, as soon as I reached Kuru- 
man or Lattakoo, then, as it is now, their farthest inland station 
from the Cape, to turn my attention to the north. Without wait- 
ing longer at Kuruman than was necessary to recruit the oxen, 
which were pretty well tired by the long journey from Algoa Bay, 
I proceeded, in. company with another missionary, to the Bakuena 
or Bakwain country, and found Sechele, with his trihe, located at 
Shokuane. We shortly after retraced our steps to Kuruman ; 
but as the objects in view were by no means to be attained by a 
temporary excursion of this sort, I determined to make a fresh 
start into the interior as soon as possible. Accordingly, after 
resting three months at Kuruman, which is»a kind of head station 
in the country, I returned to a spot about fifteen miles south of 
Shokuane, called Lepelole (now Litubaruba). Here, in order to 
obtain an accurate knowledge of the language, I cut myself off 
from all European society for about six months, and gained by 
this ordeal an insight into the habits, ways of thinking, laws, and 
language of that section of the Bechuanas called Bakwains, which 
has proved of incalculable advantage in my intercourse with them 
ever since. 

In this second journey to Lepelole — so called from a cavern of 
that name — I began preparations for a settlement, by making a 
canal to irrigate gardens, from a stream then flowing copiously. 



10 IDEAS KEGAEDING COMETS. 

but now quite dry. When these preparations were well ad- 
vanced, I went northward to visit the Bakaa and Bamangwato, 
and the Makalaka, living between 22° and 23° south latitude. 
The Bakaa Mountains had been visited before hj a trader, whq, 
with his people, all perished from fever. In going round the 
northern part of these basaltic hills near Letloche I was only ten 
days distant from the lower part of the Zouga, which passed by 
the same name as Lake Ngami;* and I might then (in 1842) 
have discovered that lake, had discovery alone been my object. 
Most part of this journey beyond Shokuane was performed on 
foot, in consequence of the draught oxen having become sick. 
Some of my companions who had recently joined us, and did not 
know that I understood a little of their speech, were overheard by 
me discussing my appearance and powers: "He is not strong; 
he is quite slim, and only appears stout because he puts himself 
into those bags (trowsers) ; he will soon knock up." This caused 
my Highland blood to rise, and made me despise the fatigue of 
keeping them all at the top of their speed for days together, and 
until I heard them expressing proper opinions of my pedestrian 
powers. 

Keturning to Kuruman, in order to bring my luggage to our 
proposed settlement, I was followed by the news that the tribe of 
Bakwains, who had shown themselves so friendly toward me, had 
been driven from Lepelole by the Barolongs, so that my prospects 
for the time of forming a settlement there were at an end. One 
of those periodical outbreaks of war, which seem to have occurred 
from time immemorial, for the possession of cattle, had burst forth 
in the land, and had so changed the relations of the tribes to each 
other, that I was obliged to set out anew to look for a suitable 
locality for a mission station. 

In going north again, a comet blazed on our sight, exciting 
the wonder of every tribe we visited. That, of 1816 had been 
followed by an irruption of the Matebele, the most cruel enemies 

* Several words in the African languages begin with the ringing sound heard in 
the end of the word " coming." If the reader puts an i to the beginning of the 
name of the lake, as Ingami, and then sounds the i as little as possible, he will 
have the correct pronunciation. The Spanish iS is employed to denote this sound, 
and Ngami is spelt iiami — naka means a tusk, iiaka a doctor. Every vowel is 
sounded in all native words, and the emphasis in pronunciation is put upon the pe- 
nultimate. 



RAVAGES OF LIONS. H 

the Bechuanas ever knew, and this they thought might portend 
something as "bad, or it might only foreshadow the death of some 
great chief. On this subject of comets I knew little more than 
thej did themselves, but I had that confidence in a kind, over- 
ruling Providence, which makes such a difierence between Chris- 
tians and both the ancient and modern heathen. 

As some of the Bamangwato people had accompanied me to 
Kuruman, I was obliged to restore them and their goods to their 
chief Sekomi. This made a journey to the residence of that chief 
again necessary, and, for the first time, I performed a distance of 
some hundred miles on ox-back. 

Returning toward Kuruman, I selected the beautiful valley 
of Mabotsa (lat. 25° 14" south, long. 26° 30"?) as the site of a 
missionary station, and thither I removed in 1843. Here an 
occurrence took place concerning which I have frequently been 
questioned in England, and which, but for the importunities of 
friends, I meant to have kept in store to tell my children when 
in my dotage. The Bakatla of the village Mabotsa were much 
troubled by lions, which leaped into the cattle-pens by night, and 
destroyed their cows. They even attacked the herds in open 
day. This was so unusual an occurrence that the people be- 
lieved that they were bewitched — "given," as they said, "into the 
power of the lions by a neighboring tribe." They went once to 
attack the animals, but, being rather a cowardly people compared 
to Bechuanas in general on such occasions, they returned without 
killing any. 

It is well known that if one of a troop of lions is killed, the 
others take the hint and leave that part of the country. So, the 
next time the herds were attacked, I went with the people, in 
order to encourage thetn to rid themselves of the annoyance by 
destroying one of the marauders. We found the lions on a small 
hill about a quarter of a mile in length, and covered with trees. 
A circle of men was formed round it, and they gradually closed 
up, ascending pretty near to each other. Being down below on 
the plain with a native schoolmaster, named Mebalwe, a most 
excellent man, I saw one of the lions sitting on a piece of rock 
within the now closed circle of men. Mebalwe fired at him be- 
fore I could, and the ball struck the rock on which the animal 
was sitting. He bit at the spot struck, as a dog does at a stick 



12 • A LION ENCOUNTEE. 

or stone thrown at him ; then leaping away, broke through the 
opening circle and escaped unhurt. The men were afraid to at- 
tack him, perhaps on account of their belief in witchcraft. When 
the. circle was re-formed, we saw two other lions in it ; but we 
were afraid to fire lest we should strike the men, and they allow- 
ed the beasts to burst through also. If the Bakatla had acted ac- 
cording to the custom of the country, they would have speared the 
lions in their attempt to get out. Seeing we could not get them 
to kill one of the lions, we bent our footsteps toward the village ; 
in going round the end of the hill, however, I saw one of the 
beasts sitting on a piece of rock as before, but this time he had a 
little bush in front. Being about thirty yards off, I took a good 
aim at his body through the bush, and fired both barrels into, it. 
The men then called out, "He is shot, he is shot!" Others 
cried, "He has been shot by another man too ; let us go to him !" 
I did not see any one else shoot at him, but I saw the lion's tail 
erected in anger behind the bush, and, turning to the people, 
said, " Stop a little, \till I load again." When in the act of 
ramming down the bullets, I heard a shout. Starting, and 
looking half round, I saw the lion just in the act of springing 
upon me. I was upon a little height ; he caught my shoulder 
as he sprang, and we both came to the ground below together. 
Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier dog 
does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which 
seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. 
It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense 
of pain nor feeling of terror, though quite conscious of all that 
was happening. It was like what patients partially under the 
influence of chloroform describe, who see all the operation, but 
feel not the knife. This singular condition was not the result 
of any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed 
no sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This pecul- 
iar state is probably produced in all animals killed by the 
carnivora; and if so, is a merciful provision by our benev- 
olent Creator for lessening the pain of death. Turning round 
to relieve myself of the weight, as he had one paw on the back 
of my head, I saw his eyes directed to Mebalwe, who was trying 
to shoot him at a distance of ten or fifteen yards. His gun, a 
flint one, missed fire in both barrels ; the lion immediately left 



p>^?-. 
















j^-Vvi*' 



fi'-r 










NAMES OF BECHUANA TEIBES. 15 

me, and, attacking Mebalwe, bit his thigh. Another man, whose 
life I had saved before, after he had been tossed by a buffalo, 
attempted to spear the lion while he was biting Mebalwe. He 
left Mebalwe and caught this man by the shoulder, but at that 
moment the buUets he had received took effect, and he fell down 
dead. The whole was the work of a few moments, and must have 
been his paroxysms of dying rage. In order to take out the charm 
from him, the Bakatla on the following day made a huge bonfire 
over the carcass, which was declared to be that of the largest lion 
they had ever seen. Besides crunching the bone into splinters, 
he left eleven teeth wounds on the upper part of my arm. 

A wound from this animal's tooth resembles a gun-shot wound ; 
it is generally followed by a great deal of sloughing and discharge, 
and pains are felt in the part periodically ever afterward. I had 
on a tartan jacket on the occasion, and I believe that it wiped 
off all the virus from the teeth that pierced the flesh, for my two 
companions in this affray have both suffered from the peculiar 
pains, while I have escaped with only the inconvenience of a false 
joint in my limb. The man whose shoulder was wounded showed 
me his wound actually burst forth afresh on the same month of- 
the following year. This curious point deserves the attention of 
inquirers. 

The different Bechuana tribes are named after certain animals, 
showing probably that in former times they were addicted to 
animal-worship like the ancient Egyptians. The term Bakatla 
means " they of the monkey ;" Bakuena, " they of the alligator ;" 
Batlapi, "they of the fish:" each tribe having a superstitious 
dread of the animal after which it is called. They also use the 
word "bina," to dance, in reference to the custom of thus naming 
themselves, so that, when you wish to ascertain what tribe they 
belong to, you say, " What do you dance ?" It would seem as 
if that had been a part of the worship of old. A tribe never eats 
the animal which is its namesake, using the term "ila," hate or 
dread, in reference to killing it. We find traces of many ancient 
tribes in the country in individual members of those now extinct, 
as the Batau, "they of the lion;" the Banoga, "they of the ser- 
pent ;" though no such tribes now exist. The use of the personal 
pronoun they, Ba-Ma, Wa, Va or Ova, Am-Ki, &c., prevails very 
extensively in the names of tribes in Africa. A single individual 



16 SECHELE. 

is indicated hy the terms Mo or Le. ThusMokwain is a single 
person of the Bakwain tribe, and Lekoa is a single white man or 
Englishman — Makoa being Englishmen. 

I attached myself to the tribe called Bakuena or Bakwains, the 
chief of which, named Sechele, was then living with his people 
at a place called Shokuane. I was from the first struck by his 
intelligence, and by the marked manner in which we both felt 
drawn to each other. As this remarkable man has not only 
embraced Christianity, but expounds its doctrines to his people, 
I will here aive a brief sketch of his career. 

His great-grandfather Mochoasele was a great traveler, and the 
first that ever told the Bakwains of the existence of white men. 
In his father's lifetime two white travelers, whom I suppose to 
have been Dr. Cowan and Captain Donovan, passed through the 
country (in 1808), and, descending the River Limpopo, were, with 
their party, all cut off by fever. The rain-makers there, fearing 
lest their wagons might drive away the rain, ordered them to 
be thrown into the river. This is the true account of the end 
of that expedition, as related to me by the son of the chief at 
whose village they perished. He remembered, when a boy, 
eating part of one of the horses, and said it tasted like zebra's 
flesh. Thus they were not killed by the Bangwaketse, as re- 
ported, for they passed the Bakwains all Avell. The Bakwains 
were then rich in cattle ; and as one of the many evidences of the 
desiccation of the country, streams are pointed out where thousands 
and thousands of cattle formerly drank, but in Avhich water now 
never flows, and where a single herd could not find fluid for its 
support. 

When Sechele was still a boy, his father, also called ]\Iochoasele, 
was murdered by his own people for taking to himself the wives 
of his rich under-chiefs. The children being spared, their friends 
invited Sebituane, the chief of the Makololo, who was then in 
those parts, to reinstate them in the chieftainship. Sebituane 
surrounded the town of the Bakwains by night ; and just as it 
began to dawn, his herald proclaimed in a loud voice that he had 
come to revenge the death of Mochoasele. This was followed by 
Sebituane's people beating loudly on their shields all round the 
town. The panic was tremendous, and the rush like that from 
a theatre on fire, while the Makololo used their javelins on the 



HIS CHIEFTAINSHIP. 17 

terrified Bakwains with a dexterity which they alone can employ. 
Sebituane had given orders to his men to spare the sons of the 
chief; and one of them, meeting Sechele, put him in Ayard by 
oivina" him sucli a blow on the head w^ith a club as to render hi id 
insensible. The usurper was put to death; and Sechele, reinstated 
in his chieftainship, felt much attached to Sebituane. The cir- 
cumstances here noticed ultimately led me, as will be seen by- 
and-by, into the new, well-watered country to which this same 
Sebituane had preceded me by many years. 

Sechele married the daughters of three of his under-chiefs, who 
had, on account of their blood relationship, stood by him in his 
adversity. This is one of the modes adopted for cementing the 
allegiance of a tribe. The government is patriarchal, each man 
being, by virtue of paternity, chief of his own children. - They 
build their huts around his, and the greater the number of 
children, the more his importance increases. Hence children are 
esteemed one of the greatest blessings, and are always treated 
kindly. Near the centre of each circle of huts there is a spot 
called a " kotla," with a fireplace ; here they work, eat, or sit 
and gossip over the news of the day. A poor man attaches him- 
self to the kotla of a rich one, and is considered a child of the 
latter. An .under-chief has a number of these circles around his ; 
and the collection of kotlas around the great one in the middle 
of the whole, that of the principal chief, constitutes the town. 
The circle of huts immediately around the kotla of the chief is 
composed of the huts of his wives and those of his blood rela- 
tions. He attaches the under-chiefs to himself and his govern- 
ment by marrying, as Sechele did, their daughters, or inducing his 
brothers to do so. They are fond of the relationship to great fam- 
ilies. If you meet a party of strangers, and the head man's rela- 
tionship to some uncle of a certain chief is not at once proclaimed 
by his attendants, you may hear him whispering, " Tell him who 
I am." This usually involves a counting on the fingers of a part 
of his genealogical tree, and ends in the important announce- 
ment that the head of the party is half-cousin to some well-known 
ruler. 

Sechele was thus seated in his chieftainship when I made his 
acquaintance. On the first occasion in which I ever attempted 
to hold a public religious service, he remarked that it was the 

B 



18 SECHELE LEAENS TO READ. 

custom of his nation, when any new subject was brought before 
them, to put questions on it ; and he begged me to allow him to 
do the same in this case. On expressing my entire willingness 
to answer his questions, he inquired if my forefathers knew of 
a future judgment. I replied in the affirmative, and began to 
describe the scene of the " great white throne, and Him who 
shall sit on it, from whose face the heaven and earth shall flee 
away," &c. He said, " You startle me : these words make all 
my bones to shake ; I have no more strength in me ; but my fore- 
fathers were living at the same time yours were, and how is it 
that they did not send them word about these terrible things soon- 
er ? They all passed away into darkness without knowing whither 
they were going." I got out of the difficulty by explaining the 
geographical barriers in the North, and the gradual spread of 
knowledge from the South, to which we first had access by means 
of ships ; and I expressed my belief that, as Christ had said, the 
whole world would yet be enlightened by the Gospel. Pointing 
to the great Kalahari desert, he said, " You never can cross that 
country to the tribes beyond ; it is utterly impossible even for us 
black men, except in certain seasons, when more than the usual 
supply of rain falls, and an extraordinary growth of watermelons 
follows. Even we who know the country would certainly perish 
without them." Reasserting my belief in the words of Christ, we 
parted; and it will be seen farther on that Sechele himself assisted 
me in crossing that desert which had previously proved an insur- 
mountable barrier to so many adventurers. 

• As soon as he had an opportunity of learning, he set himself 
to read with such close application that, from being compara- 
tively thin, the effect of having been fond of the chase, he 
became quite corpulent from want of exercise. Mr. Oswell gave 
him his first lesson in figures, and he acquired the alphabet on 
the first day of my residence at Chonuane. He was by no 
means an ordinary specimen of the people, for I never went into 
the town but I was pressed to hear him read some chapters of 
the Bible. Isaiah was a great favorite with him ; and he was 
wont to use the same phrase nearly which tlie professor of 
Greek at Glasgow, Sir D. K. Sandford, once used respecting the 
Apostle Paul, when reading his speeches in the Acts : "He was 
Si fine fellow, that Paul!" "He was a fine man, that Isaiah; 



HIS DESIRE TO CONVEET HIS TRIBE. JQ 

he knew how to speak." Sechele invariably offered me some- 
thing to eat on every occasion of my visiting him. 

Seeing me anxious that his people should believe the words 
of Christ, he once said, " Do you imagine these people will ever 
believe by your merely talking to them ? I can make them do 
nothing except by thrashing them ; and if you like, I shall call 
my head men, and with our litupa (whips of rhinoceros hide) we 
will soon make them all believe together." The idea of using 
entreaty and persuasion to subjects to become Christians — whose 
opinion on no other matter would he condescend to ask — was 
especially surprising to him. He considered that they ought 
only to be too happy to embrace Christianity at his command. 
During the space of two years and a half he continued to profess 
to his people his full conviction of the truth of Christianity ; and 
in all discussions on the subject he took that side, acting at the 
same time in an upright manner in all the relations of life. He 
felt the difficulties of his situation long before I did, and often 
said, " Oh, I wish you had come to this country before I became 
entangled in the meshes of our customs!" In fact, he could not 
get rid of his superfluous wives, without apj)earing to be ungrateful 
to their parents, who had done so much for him in his adversity. 

In the hope that others would be induced to join him in his 
attachment to Christianity, he asked me to begin family worship 
with liim in his house. I did so ; and by-and-by was surprised 
to hear how well lie conducted the prayer in his own simple and 
beautiful style, for he was quite a master of his ' own language. 
At this time we were suffering from the effects of a drought, 
which will be described further on, and none except his family, 
whom he ordered to attend, came near his meeting. " In former 
times," said he, "when a chief was fond of hunting, all his 
people got dogs, and became fond of hunting too. If he was 
fond of dancing or music, all showed a liking to these amuse- 
ments too. If the chief loved beer, they all rejoiced in strong 
drink. But in this case it is different. I love the Word of God, 
and not one of my brethren will join me." One reason why we 
had no volunteer hypocrites was the hunger from drought, which 
was associated in their minds with the presence of Christian in- 
struction ; and hypocrisy is not prone to profess a creed which 
seems to insure an empty stomach. 



20 BAPTISM OF SECHELE. 

Sechele continued to make a consistent profession for about 
three years ; and perceiving at last some of the difficulties of his 
case, and also feeling compassion for the poor women, who were 
by far the best of our scholars, I had no desire that he should 
be in any hurry to make a full profession by baptism, and 
putting away all his wives but one. His principal wife, too, 
was about the most unlikely subject in the tribe ever to become 
any thing else than an out-and-out greasy disciple of the old 
school. She has since become greatly altered, I hear, for the 
better; but again and again have I seen Sechele send her out 
of church to put her gown on, and away she would go with her 
lips shot out, the very picture of unutterable disgust at his new- 
fangled notions. 

When he at last applied for baptism, I simply asked him how 
he, having the Bible in his hand, and able to read it, thought he 
ought to act. He went home, gave each of his superfluous wives 
new clothing, and all his own goods, which they had been ac- 
customed to keep in their huts for him, and sent them to their 
parents with an intimation that he had no fault to find with them, 
but that in parting with them he wished to follow the will of God^ 
On the day on which he and his children were baptized, great 
numbers came to see the ceremony. Some thought, from a 
stupid calumny circulated by enemies to Christianity in the 
south, that the converts would be made to drink an infusion of 
" dead men's brains," and were astonished to find that water only 
was used at baptism. Seeing several of the old men actually in 
tears during the service, I asked them afterward the cause of 
their weeping ; they were crying to see their father, as the Scotch 
remark 'Over a case of suicide, ''so far left to himself:' They 
seemed to think that I had thrown the glamour over him, and 
that he had become mine. Here commenced an opposition which 
we had not previously experienced. All the friends of the 
divorced wives became the opponents of our religion. The at- 
tendance at school and church diminished to very few besides 
the chief's own family. They all treated us still with respectful 
kindness, but to Sechele himself they said things which, as he 
often remarked, had they ventured on in former times, would 
have cost them their lives. It was trying, after all we had done, 
to see our labors so little appreciated; but we had sown the 



RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE. 21 

o-ood seed, and have no doubt but it will yet spring up, though 
we may not live to see the fruits. 

Leaving this, sketch of the chief, I proceed to give an equally 
rapid one of our dealing with his people, the Bakena, or Bak- 
wains. A small piece of land, sufficient for a garden, was pur- 
chased when we first went to live with them, though that was 
scarcely necessary in a country where the idea of buying land 
was quite new. It was expected that a request for a suitable 
spot would have been made, and that we should have proceeded 
to occupy it as any other member of the tribe would. But we 
explained to them that we wished to avoid any cause of future 
dispute when land had become more valuable; or when a foolish 
chief began to reign, and we had erected large or expensive build- 
ings, he might wish to claim the whole. These reasons were con- 
sidered satisfactory. About £5 worth of goods were given for a 
piece of land, and an arrangement was come to that a similar piece 
should be allotted to any other missionary, at any other place to 
which the tribe might remove. The particulars of the sale sound- 
ed strangely in the ears of the tribe, but were nevertheless readily 
agreed to. 

In our relations with this people we were simply strangers 
exercising no authority or control whatever. Our influence de- 
pended entirely on persuasion ; and having taught them by kind 
conversation as well as by public instruction, I expected them to 
do what their own sense of right and wrong dictated. We never 
wished them to do right merely because it would be pleasing to 
us, nor thought ourselves to blame when they did wrong, although 
we were quite aware of the absurd idea to that effect. We saw 
that our teaching did good to the general mind of the people by 
bringing new and better motives into play. Five instances are 
positively known to me in which, by our influence on public 
opinion, war was prevented ; and where, in individual cases, we 
failed, the people did no worse than they did before we came 
into the country. In general they were slow, like all the African 
people hereafter to be described, in coming to a decision on re^ 
ligious subjects ; but in questions affecting their worldly affairs 
they were keenly alive to their own interests. They might be 
called stupid in matters which had not come within the sphere 
of their observation, but in other things they showed more intel- 



22 PROLONGED DROUGHT. 

iigence than is to be met with in our own uneducated peasantry. 
They are remarkably accurate in their knowledge of cattle, sheep, 
and goats, knowing exactly the kind of pasturage suited to each ; 
and they select with great judgment the varieties of soil best suit- 
ed to different kinds of grain. They are also familiar with the 
habits of wild animals, and in general are well up in the maxims 
which embody their ideas of political wisdom. 

The place where we first settled with the Bakwains is called 
Chonuane, and it happened to be visited, during the first year of 
our residence there, by one of those droughts which occur from 
time to time in even the most favored districts of Africa. 

The belief in the gift or power of rain-making is one of the 
most deeply-rooted articles of faith in this country. The chief 
Sechele was himself a noted rain-doctor, and believed in it im- 
plicitly. He has often assured me that he found it more difficult 
to give np his faith in that than in any thing else which Chris- 
tianity required him to abjure. I pointed out to him that the 
only feasible way of watering the gardens was to select some 
good, never-failing river, make a canal, and irrigate the adjacent 
lands. This suggestion was immediately adopted, and soon the 
whole tribe was on the move to the Kolobeng, a stream about 
forty miles distant. The experiment succeeded admirably during 
the first year. The Bakwains made the canal and dam in ex- 
change for my labor in assisting to build a square house for 
their chief. They also built their own school under my superin- 
tendence. Our house at the River Kolobeng, which gave a name 
to the settlement, was the third which I had reared with my own 
hands. A native smith taught me to weld iron ; and having im- 
proved by scraps of information in that line from Mr. Moffat, and 
also in carpentering and gardening, I was becoming handy at 
almost any trade, besides doctoring and preaching; and as my 
wife could make candles, soap, and clothes, we came nearly up 
to what may be considered as indispensable in the accomplish- 
ments of a missionary family in Central Africa, namely, the 
husband to be a jack-of-all-trades without doors, and the wife a 
maid-of-all-work within. But in our second year again no rain 
fell. In the third the same extraordinary drought followed. In- 
deed, not ten inches of water fell during these two years, and the 
Kolobeng ran dry; so many fish were killed that the hysenas 



ACTIVITY OF THE ANT. 23 

from the whole country round collected to the feast, and were 
unable to finish the putrid masses. A large old alligator, which 
liad never been known to commit any depredations, was found 
left high and dry in the mud among the victims. The fourth 
year was equally unpropitious, the fall of rain being insufficient 
to bring the grain to maturity. Nothing could be more trying. 
We dug down in the bed of the river deeper and deeper as the 
water receded, striving to get a little to keep the fruit-trees alive 
for better times, but in vain. Needles lying out of doors for 
months did not rust ; and a mixture of sulphuric acid and water, 
used in a galvanic battery, parted with all its water to the air, 
instead of imbibing more from it, as it would have done in En- 
gland. The leaves of indigenous trees were all drooping, soft, 
and shriveled, though not dead ; and those of the mimosas were 
closed at midday, the same as they are at night. In the midst 
of this dreary drought, it was wonderful to see those tiny crea- 
tures, the ants, running about with their accustomed vivacity. I 
put the bulb of a thermometer three inches under the soil, in the 
sun, at midday, and found the mercury to stand at 132° to 134° ; 
and if certain kinds of beetles were placed on the surface, they 
ran about a few seconds and expired. But this broiling heat only 
augmented the activity of the long-legged black ants : they never 
tire ; their organs of motion seem endowed with the same power 
as is ascribed by physiologists to the muscles of the human heart, 
by which that part of the frame never becomes fatigued, and 
which may be imparted to all our bodily organs in that higher 
sphere to which we fondly hope to rise. Where do these ants get 
their moisture ? Our house was built on a hard ferruginous con- 
glomerate, in order to be out of the way of the white ant, but 
they came in despite the precaution ; and not only were they, in 
this sultry weather, able individually to moisten soil to the con- 
sistency of mortar for the formation of galleries, which, in their 
way of working, is done by night (so that they are screened from 
the observation of birds by day in passing and repassing toward 
any vegetable matter they may wish to devour), but, when their 
inner chambers were laid open, these were also surprisingly hu- 
mid. Yet there was no dew, and, the house being placed on a 
rock, they could have no subterranean passage to the bed of the 
river, which ran about three hundred yards below the hill. Can 



24 EAIN-MEDICINE. 

,it he that thej have the power of combining the oxygen and 
hydrogen of their vegetable food by vital force so as to form 
water ?* 

Rain, however, would not fall. The Bakwains believed that I 
had bound Sechele with some magic spell, and I received depu- 
tations, in the evenings, of the old counselors, entreating me to 
allow him to make only a few showers: "The corn will die if 
you refuse, and we shall become scattered. Only let him make 
rain this once, and we shall all, men, women, and children, come 
to the school, and sing and pray as long as you please." It was 
in vain to protest that I wished Sechele to act jtist according to 
his own ideas of what was right, as he found the law laid down 
in the Bible, and it was distressing to appear hard-hearted to them. 
The clouds often collected promisingly over us, and rolling thun- 
der seemed to portend refreshing showers, but next morning the 
sun would rise in a clear, cloudless sky ; indeed, even these low- 
ering appearances were less frequent by far than days of sunshine 
are in London. 

The natives, finding it irksome to sit and wait helplessly until 
God gives them rain from heaven, entertain the more comforta- 
ble idea that they can help themselves by a variety of prepara- 
tions, such as charcoal made of burned bats, inspissated renal 
deposit of the mountain cony — Hyrax capensis — (which, by 
the way, is used, in the form of pills, as a good antispasmodic, 
under the name of " stone-sweaff), the internal parts of differ- 
ent animals — as jackals' livers, baboons' and lions' hearts, and 
hairy calculi from the bowels of old cows — serpents' skins and 
vertebree, and every kind of tuber, bulb, root, and plant to be 
found in the country. Although you disbelieve their efficacy in 
charming the clouds to pour out their refreshing treasures, yet, 
conscious that civility is useful every where, you kindly state that 
you think they are mistaken as to their power. The rain-doctor 
selects a particular bulbous root, pounds it, and administers a 
cold infiision to a sheep, which in five minutes afterward expires 

* When we come to Angola, I shall describe an insect there which distills several 
])ints of water every night. 

f The name arises from its being always voided on one spot, in the manner prac- 
ticed by others of the rhinocerontine family ; and, by the action of the sun, it be- 
comes a black, pitchy substance. 



CONVERSATION ON RAIN-MAKING. 25 

in convulsions. Part of the same bulb is converted into smoke, 
and ascends toward the sky ; rain follows in a day or two. The 
inference is obvious. Were we as much harassed by droughts, 
the logic would be irresistible in England in 1857. 

As the Bakwains believed that there must be some connection 
between the presence of " God's Word" in their town and these 
successive and distressing droughts, they looked with no good will 
at the church bell, but still they invariably treated us with kind- 
ness and respect. I am not aware of ever having had an enemy 
in the tribe. The only avowed cause of dislike was expressed by 
a very influential and sensible man, the uncle of Sechele. "We 
like you as well as if you had been born among us ; you are the 
only white man we can become familiar with (thoaela) ; but we 
wish you to give up that everlasting preaching and praying ; we^ 
can not become familiar with that at all. You see we never get 
rain, while those-tribes who never pray as we do obtain abund- 
ance." This was a fact ; and we often saw it raining on the hills 
ten miles off, while it would not look at us "even with one eye." 
If the Prince of the power of the air had no hand in scorching us 
up, I fear I often gave him the credit of doing so. 

As for the rain-makers, they carried the sympathies of the peo- 
ple along with them, and not without reason. With the follow- 
ing arguments they were all acquainted, and in order to under- 
stand their force, we must place ourselves in their position, and 
believe, as they do, that all medicines act by a mysterious charm. 
The term for cure may be translated " charm" {alahd). 

Medical Doctor. Hail, friend ! How very many medicines you 
have about you this morning ! Why, you have every medicine in 
the country here. 

Rain Doctor. Yery true, my friend ; and I ought ; for the 
whole country needs the rain which I am making. 

M. D. So you really believe that you can command the clouds ? 
I think that can be done by God alone. 

R. D. We both believe the very same thing. It is God that 
makes the rain, but I pray to him by means of these medicines, 
and, the rain coming, of course it is then mine. It was I who 
made it for the Bakwains for many years, when they were at 
Shokuane ; through my wisdom, too, their women became fat and 
shining. Ask them ; they will tell you the same as I do. 



26 CONVEESATION ON RAIN-MAKING. » 

M. D. But we are distinctly told in the parting words of our 
Savior that we can pray to God acceptably in his name alone, 
and not by means of medicines. 

B. D. Truly ! but God told us differently. He made black 
men first, and did not love us as he did the white men. He 
made you beautiful, and gave you clothing, and guns, and gun- 
powder, and horses, and wagons, and many other things about 
which we know nothing. But toward us he had no heart. 
He gave us nothing except the assegai, and cattle, and rain- 
making; and he did not give us hearts like yours. We never 
love each other. Other tribes place medicines about our country 
to prevent the rain, so that we may be dispersed by hunger, and 
go to them, and augment their power. We must dissolve their 
charms by our medicines. God has given us one little thing, 
which you know nothing of. He has given us the knowledge 
of certain medicines by which we can make rain. We do not de- 
spise those things which you possess, though we are ignorant of 
them. We don't understand your book, yet we don't despise it. 
You ought not to despise our little knowledge, though you are ig- 
norant of it. 

If. D. I don't despise what I am ignorant of; I only think you 
are mistaken in saying that you have medicines which can influ- 
ence the rain at all. 

J?. D. That's just the way people speak when they talk on a 
subject of which they have no knowledge. When we first opened 
our eyes, we found our forefathers making rain, and we follow in 
their footsteps. You, who send to Kuruman for corn, and irrigate 
your garden, may do without rain ; we can not manage in that 
way. If we had no rain, the cattle would have no pasture, the 
cows give no milk, our children become lean and die, our wives 
run away to other tribes who do make rain and have corn, and the 
whole tribe become dispersed and lost ; our fire would go out. 

M. D. I quite agree with you as to the value of the rain ; but 
you can not charm the clouds by medicines. You wait till you 
see the clouds come, then you use your medicines, and take the 
credit which belongs to God only. 

R. D. I use my medicines, and you employ yours; we are 
both doctors, and doctors are not deceivers. You give a patient 
medicine. Sometimes God is pleased to heal him by means of 



CONVEESATION ON RAIN-MAKING. 27 

your medicine ; sometimes not — lie dies. When he is cured, you 
take the credit of what God does. I do the same. Sometimes 
God grants us rain, sometimes not. When he does, we take the 
credit of the charm. When a patient dies, you don't give up trust 
in your medicine, neither do I when rain fails. If you wish me to 
leave off my medicines, why continue your own ? 

M. D. I give medicine to living creatures within my reach, 
and can see the effects, though no cure follows ; you pretend to 
charm the clouds, which are so far above us that your medicines 
never reach them. The clouds usually lie in one direction, and 
your smoke goes in another. God alone can command the clouds. 
Only try and wait patiently ; God will give us rain without your 
medicines. 

R. D. Mahala-ma-kapa-a-a ! ! Well, I always thought white 
men were wise till this morning. Who ever thought of making 
trial of starvation ? Is death pleasant, then ? 

M. D. Could you make it rain on one spot and not on an- 
other? 

JR. D. I wouldn't think of trying. I like to see the whole 
country green, and all the people glad ; the women clapping their 
hands, and giving me their ornaments for thankfulness, and lulli- 
looing for joy. 

MJ. D. I think you deceive both them and yourself. 

a. D. Well, then, there is a pair of us (meaning both are 
rogues). 

The above is only a specimen of their way of reasoning, in 
which, when the language is well understood, they are perceived 
to be remarkably acute. These arguments are generally known, 
and I never succeeded in convincing a single individual of their 
fallacy, though I tried to do so in every way I could think of. 
Their faith in medicines as charms is unbounded. The general 
effect of argument is to produce the impression that you are not 
anxious for rain at all ; and it is very undesirable to allow the 
idea to spread that you do not take a generous interest in their 
welfare. An angry opponent of rain-making in a tribe would be 
looked upon as were some Greek merchants in England during 
the Russian war. 

The conduct of the people during this long-continued drought 
was remarkably good. The women parted with most of their 



28 THE HOPO. 

ornaments to purchase corn from more fortunate tribes. The 
children scoured the country in search of the numerous bulbs 
and roots which can sustain life, and the men engaged in hunting. 
Very great numbers of the large game, buffaloes, zebras, giraffes, 
tsessebes, kamas or hartebeests, kokongs or gnus, pallahs, rhinoce- 
roses, etc., congregated at some fountains near Kolobeng, and the 
trap called '■'■ hojpd''' was constructed, in the lands adjacent, for 
their destruction. The hopo consists of two hedges in the form 
of the letter V, which are very high and thick near the angle. 
Instead of the hedges being joined there, they are made to form 
a lane of about fifty yards in length, at the extremity of which a 
pit is formed, six or eight feet deep, and about twelve or fifteen 
in breadth and length. Trunks of trees are laid across the mar- 
gins of the pit, and more especially over that nearest the lane 
where the animals are expected to leap in, and over that farthest 
from the lane where it is supposed they will attempt to escape 
after they are in. The trees form an overlapping border, and ren- 
der escape almost impossible. The whole is carefully decked with 
short green rushes, making the pit like a concealed pitfall. As 
the hedges are frequently about a mile long, and about as much 
apart at their extremities, a tribe making a circle three or four 
miles round the country adjacent to the opening, and gradually 
closing up, are almost sure to inclose a large body of game. 
Driving it up with shouts to the narrow part of the hopo, men 
secreted there throw their javelins into the affrighted herds, and 
on the animals rush to the opening presented at the converging 
hedges, and into the pit, till that is full of a living mass. Some 
escape by running over the , others, as a Smithfield market-dog 
does over the sheep's backs. It is a frightful scene. The men, 
wild with excitement, spear the lovely animals with mad de- 
light ; others of the poor creatures, borne down by the weight of 
their dead and dying companions, every now and then make the 
whole mass heave in their smothering agonies. 

The Bakwains often killed between sixty and seventy head of 
large game at the different hopos in a single week; and as 
every one, both rich and poor, partook of the prey, the meat 
counteracted the bad effects of an exclusively vegetable diet. 
When the poor, who had no salt, were forced to live entirely on 
roots, they were often troubled with indigestion. Such cases we 





.1 <? 









;!l"'l''i|f!Ji|l',( 






li i; 






*/^ 



'it' 4 



."» 














SALT A CURE FOR INDIGESTION. 33 

had frequent opportunities of seeing at other times, for, the dis- 
trict "being destitute of salt, the rich alone could afford to buy it. 
The native doctors, aware of the cause of the malady, usually 
prescribed some of that ingredient with their medicines. The 
doctors themselves had none, so the poor resorted to us for aid. 
We took the hint, and henceforth cured the disease by giving a 
teaspoonful of salt, minus the other remedies. Either milk or 
meat had the same effect, though not so rapidly as salt. Long 
afterward, when I was myself deprived of salt for four months, 
at two distinct periods, I felt no desire for that condiment, but I 
was plagued by very great longing for the above articles of food. 
This continued as long as I was confined to an exclusively vege- 
table diet, and when I procured a meal of flesh, though boiled 
in perfectly fresh rain-water, it tasted as pleasantly saltish as if 
slightly impregnated with the condiment. Milk or meat, obtained 
in liowever small quantities, removed entirely the excessive long- 
ing and dreaming about roasted ribs of fat oxen, and bowls of cool 
thick milk gurgling forth from the big-bellied calabashes ; and I 
could then understand the thankfulness to Mrs. L. often expressed 
by poor Bakwain women, in the interesting condition, for a very 
little of either. 

In addition to other adverse influences, the general uncertainty, 
though not absolute want of food, and the necessity of frequent 
absence for the purpose of either hunting game or collecting roots 
and fruits, proved a serious barrier to the progress of the people 
in knowledge. Our own education in England is carried on at 
the comfortable breakfast and dinner table, and by the cosy fire, 
as well as in the church and school. Few English people with 
stomachs painfully empty would be decorous at church any more 
than they are when these organs are overcharged. Ragged schools 
would have been a failure had not the teachers wisely provided 
food for the body as well as food for the mind ; and not only must 
we show a friendly interest in the bodily comfort of the objects 
of our sympathy as a Christian duty, but we can no more hope 
for healthy feelings among the poor,^ either at home or abroad, 
without feeding them into them, than we can hope to see an 
ordinary working-bee reared into a queen-mother by the ordinary 
food of the hive. 

Sending the Gospel to the heathen must, if this view be correct, 

C 



34 MEANS TO PROMOTE CIVILIZATION. 

include much more than is implied in the usual picture of a mis- 
sionary, namely, a man going about with a Bible under his arm. 
The promotion of commerce ought to be specially attended to, as 
this, more speedily than any thing else, demolishes that sense of 
isolation which heathenism engenders, and makes the tribes feel 
themselves mutually dependent on, and mutually beneficial to each 
other. With a view to this, the missionaries at Kuruman got per- 
mission from the government for a trader to reside at the station, 
and a considerable trade has been the result ; the trader himself 
has become rich enough to retire with a competence. Those laws 
which still prevent free commercial intercourse among the civil- 
ized nations seem to be nothing else but the remains of our own 
heathenism. My observations on this subject make me extremely 
desirous to promote the preparation of the raw materials of Euro- 
pean manufactures in Africa, for by that means we may not only 
put a stop to the slave-trade, but introduce the negro family into 
the body corporate of nations, no one member of which can suffer 
without the others suffering with it. Success in this, in both 
Eastern and Western Africa, would lead, in the course of time, 
to a much larger diffusion of the blessings of civihzation than 
efforts exclusively spiritual and educational confined to any one 
small tribe. These, however, it would of course be extremely 
desirable to carry on at the same time at large central and healthy 
stations, for neither civilization nor Christianity can be promoted 
alone. In fact, they are inseparable. 



BOERS ADVERSE TO IMPROVEMENT. 35 



CHAPTER II. 

The Boers.— Their Treatment of the Natives.— Seizure of native Children for 

Slaves. English Traders. — Alarm of the Boers.— Native Espionage.— The Tale 

of the Cannon.— The Boers threaten Sechele.— In violation of Treaty, they stop 
English Traders and expel Missionaries.— They attack the Bakwains.— Their 
Mode of Fighting. — The Natives killed and the School-children carried into 
Slavery.— Destruction of English Property.— African Housebuilding and House- 
keeping. — Mode of Spending the Day.— Scarcity of Food.— Locusts.— Edible 
Frogs. — Scavenger Beetle. — Continued Hostility of the Boers. — The Journey 
north. — Preparations. — Fellow-travelers. — The Kalahari Desert. — Vegetation. — 
Watermelons. — The Inhabitants. — The Bushmen. — Their nomade Mode of 
Life. — Appearance. — The Bakalahari. — Their Love for Agriculture and for do- 
mestic Animals.— Timid Character. — Mode of obtaining Water.— Female Water- 

• suckers. — The Desert. — Water hidden. 

Another adverse influence with wliicli the mission had to con- 
tend was the vicinity of the Boers of the Cashan Mountains, oth- 
erwise named "Magaliesberg." These are not to be confounded 
with the Cape colonists, who sometimes pass by the name. Tlie 
word Boer simply means "farmer," and is not synonymous with 
our word boor. Indeed, to the Boers generally the latter term 
would be quite inappropriate, for they are a sober, industrious, 
and most hospitable body of peasantry. Those, however, who 
have fled from English law on various pretexts, and have been 
joined by English deserters and every other variety of bad charac- 
ter in their distant localities, are unfortunately of a very different 
stamp. The great objection many of the Boers had, and still 
have, to English law, is that it makes no distinction between black 
men and white. They felt aggrieved by their supposed losses in 
the emancipation of their Hottentot slaves, and determined to 
erect themselves into a republic, in which they might pursue, with- 
out molestation, the " proper treatment of the blacks." It is al- 
most needless to add that the " proper treatment" has always con-- 
tained in it the essential element of slavery, namely, compulsory 
unpaid labor. 

One section of this body, under the late Mr. Hendrick Potgeiter, 
penetrated the interior as far as the Cashan Mountains, whence a 



36 TREATMENT OF NATIVES BY BOERS. 

Zulu or Caffre chief, named Mosilikatze, had been expelled bj 
the well-known CafFre Dingaan ; and a glad welcome was given 
them by the Bechuana tribes, who had just escaped the hard sway 
of that cruel chieftain. They came with the prestige of white 
men and deliverers ; but the Bechuanas soon found, as they ex- 
pressed it, " that Mosilikatze was cruel to his enemies, and kind 
to those he conquered ; but that the Boers destroyed their ene- 
mies, and made slaves of their friends." The tribes who still 
retain the semblance of independence are forced to perform all the 
labor of the fields, such as manuring the land, weeding, reaping, 
building, making dams and canals, and at the same time to sup- 
port themselves. I have myself been an eye-witness of Boers 
coming to a village, and, according to their usual custom, demand- 
ing twenty or thirty women to weed their gardens, and have seen 
these women proceed to the scene of unrequited toil, carrying their 
own food on their heads, their children on their backs, and instru- 
ments of labor on their shoulders. Nor have the Boers any wish 
to conceal the meanness of thus employing unpaid labor ; on the 
contrary, every one of them, from Mr. Potgeiter and Mr. Gert 
Krieger, the commandants, downward, lauded his own humanity 
and justice in making such an equitable regulation. " We make 
the people work for us, in consideration of allowing them to live 
in our country." 

I can appeal to the Commandant Krieger if the foregoing is not 
a fair and impartial statement of the views of himself and his 
people. I am sensible of no mental bias toward or against these 
Boers ; and during the several journeys I made to the poor en- 
slaved tribes, I never avoided the whites, but tried to cure and did 
administer remedies to their sick, without money and without price. 
It is due to them to state that I was invariably treated with re- 
spect ; but it is most unfortunate that they should have been left 
by their own Church for sO many years to deteriorate and become 
as degraded as the blacks, whom the stupid prejudice against color 
leads them to detest. 

This new species of slavery which they have adopted serves 
to supply the lack of field-labor only. The demand for domes- 
tic servants must be met by forays on tribes which have good 
supplies of cattle. The Portuguese can quote instances in which 
blacks become so degraded by the love of strong drink as actually 



TREATMENT OF NATIVES BY BOERS. 37 

to sell themselves ; but never in any one case, witliin the mem- 
orv of man, has a Bechuana chief sold any of his people, or a 
Bechuana man his child. Hence the necessity for a foray to 
seize children. And those individual Boers who would not en- 
gage in it for the sake of slaves can seldom resist the two-fold 
plea of a well-told story of an intended uprising of the devoted 
tribe, and the prospect of handsome pay in the division of the 
captured cattle besides. 

It is difficult for a person in a civilized country to conceive 
that any body of men possessing the common attributes of hu- 
manity (and these Boers are by no means destitute of the better 
feelings of our nature) should with one accord set out, after load- 
ing their own wives and children with caresses, and proceed to 
shoot down in cold blood men and women, of a different color, 
it is true, but possessed of domestic feelings and affections equal 
to their own. I saw and conversed with children in the houses 
of Boers who had, by their own and their masters' account, been 
captured, and in several instances I traced the parents of these 
unfortunates, though the plan approved by the long-headed among 
the burghers is to take children so young that they soon forget 
their parents and their native language also. It was long be- 
fore I could give credit to the tales of bloodshed told by native 
witnesses, and had I received no other testimony but theirs I 
should probably have continued skeptical to this day as to the 
truth of the accounts ; but when I found the Boers themselves, 
some bewailing and denouncing, others glorying in the bloody 
scenes in which they had been themselves the actors, I was com- 
pelled to admit the validity of the testimony, and try to account 
for the cruel anomaly. They are all traditionally religious, trac- 
ing their descent from some of the best men (Huguenots and 
Dutch) the world ever saw. Hence they claim to themselves .the 
title of "Christians," and all the colored race are "black proper- 
ty" or "creatures." They being the chosen people of God, the 
heathen are given to them for an inheritance, and they are the 
rod of divine vengeance on the heathen, as were the Jews of old. 
Living in the midst of a native population much larger than 
themselves, and at fountains removed many miles from each oth- 
er, they feel somewhat in the same insecure position as do the 
Americans in the Southern States. The first question put by 



38 BOERS AFRAID OF THE CAFFRES. 

them to strangers is respecting peace; and when they receive 
reports from disaffected or envious natives against any tribe, the 
case assumes all the appearance and proportions of a regular in- 
surrection. Severe measures then appear to the most mildly dis- 
posed among them as' imperatively called for, and, however Woody 
the massacre that follows, no qualms of conscience ensue : it is a 
dire necessity for the sake of peace. Indeed, the late Mr. Hen- 
drick Potgeiter most devoutly believed himself to be the great 
peacemaker of the country. 

But how is it that the natives, being so vastly superior in num- 
bers to the Boers, do not rise and annihilate them ? The people 
among whom they live are Bechuanas, not Caffres, though no one 
would ever learn that distinction from a Boer ; and history does 
not contain one single instance in which the Bechuanas, even 
those of them who possess fire-arms, have attacked either the 
Boers or the English. If there is such an instance, I am certain 
it is not generally known, either beyond or in the Cape Colony. 
They have defended themselves when attacked, as in the case of 
Sechele, but have never engaged in offensive war with Euro- 
peans. We have a very different tale to tell of the Caffres, and 
the difference has always been so evident to these border Boers 
that, ever since those "magnificent savages"* obtained possession 
of fire-arms, not one Boer has ever attempted to settle in Caffre- 
land, or even face them as an enemy in the field. The Boers 
have generally manifested a marked antipathy to any thing but 
" long-shot" warfare, and, sidling away in their emigrations to- 
ward the more effeminate Bechuanas, have left their quarrels with 
the Caffres to be settled by the English, and their wars to be paid 
for by English gold. 

The Bakwains at Kolobeng had the spectacle of various tribes 
enslaved before their eyes — the Bakatla, the Batlokua, the Bahii- 
keng, the Bamosetla, and two other tribes of Bakwains were aU 
groaning under the oppression of unrequited labor. This would 
not have been felt as so great an evil but that the young men 
of those tribes, anxious to obtain cattle, the only means of rising 
to respectability and importance among their own people, were 
in the habit of sallying forth, like our Irish and Highland 

* 
* The " United Service Journal" so styles them. 



EFFECTS OF SLAVE-SYSTEM. 39 

reapers, to procure work in the Cape Colony. After laboring 
there three or four years, in building stone dikes and dams 
for the Dutch farmers, they were well content if at the end of 
that time they could return with as many cows. On presenting 
one to their chief, they ranked as respectable men in the tribe 
ever afterward. These volunteers were highly esteemed among 
the Dutch, under the name of Mantatees. They were paid at 
the rate of one shilling a day and a large loaf of bread between 
six of them. Numbers of them, who had formerly seen me about 
twelve hundred miles inland from the Cape, recognized me with 
the loud laughter of joy when I was passing them at their work 
in the Eoggefelt and Bokkefelt, within a few days of Cape Town. 
I conversed with them and with elders of the Dutch Church, 
for whom they were working, and found that the system was 
thoroughly satisfactory to both parties. I do not believe that 
there is one Boer, in the Cashan or Magaliesberg country, who 
would deny that a law was made, in consequence of this labor 
passing to the colony, to deprive these laborers of their hardly- 
earned cattle, for the very cogent reason that, " if they want to 
Avork, let them work for us their masters," though boasting that 
in their case it would not be paid for. I can never cease to be 
most unfeignedly thankful that I was not born in a land of slaves. 
No one can understand the effect of the unutterable meanness of 
the slave-system on the minds of those who, but for the strange 
obliquity which prevents them from feeling the degradation of not 
being gentlemen enough to pay for services rendered, would be 
equal in virtue to ourselves. Fraud becomes as natural to them 
as "paying one's way" is to the rest of mankind. 

Wherever a missionary lives, traders are sure to come ; they 
are mutually dependent, and each aids in the work of the others 
but experience shows that the two employments can not veiy well 
be combined in the same person. Such a combination would not 
be morally wrong, for nothing would be more fair, and apostolical 
too, than that the man who devotes his time to the spiritual wel- 
fare of a people should derive temporal advantage from upright 
commerce, which traders, who aim exclusively at their own en- 
richment, modestly imagine ought to be left to them. But, 
though it is right for missionaries to trade, the present system of 
missions renders it inexpedient to spend time in so doing. No 



40 JESUIT AND PROTESTANT MISSIONARIES.- 

missionary with whom I ever came in contact, traded ; and while 
the traders, whom we introduced and rendered secure in the 
country, waxed rich, the missionaries have invariably remained 
poor, and have died so. The Jesuits, in Africa at least, were wiser 
in their generation than we ; theirs were large, influential commu- 
nities, proceeding on the system of turning the abilities of every 
brother into that channel in which he was most likely to excel ; 
one, fond of natural history, was allowed to follow his bent ; anoth- 
er, fond of literature, found leisure to pursue his studies ; and he 
who was great in barter was sent in search of ivory and gold-dust ; 
so that while in the course of performing the religious acts of his 
mission to distant tribes, he found the means of aiding effectually 
the brethren whom he had left in the central settlement.* We 
Protestants, with the comfortable conviction of superiority, have 
sent out missionaries with a bare subsistence only, and are un- 
sparing in our laudations of some for not being worldly-minded 
whom our niggardliness made to live as did the prodigal son. I 
do not speak of myself, nor need I to do so, but for that very 
reason I feel at liberty to interpose a word in behalf of others. I 
have before my mind at this moment facts and instances which 
warrant my putting the case in this way: The command to "go 
into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" must 
be obeyed by Christians either personally or by substitute. Now 
it is quite possible to find men whose love for the heathen and 
devotion to the work will make them ready to go forth on the 
terms "bare subsistence," but what can be thought of the just- 
ice, to say nothing of the generosity, of Christians and churches 
who not only work their substitutes at the lowest terms, but 
regard what they give as charity! The matter is the more 
grave in respect to the Protestant missionary, who may have a 
wife and family. The fact is, there are many cases in which it 
is right, virtuous, and praiseworthy for a man to sacrifice every 
thing for a great object, but in which it would be very wrong for 

* The Dutch clergy, too, are not wanting in worldly wisdom. A fountain is 
bought, and the lands which it can irrigate parceled out and let to villagers. As 
they increase in numbers, the rents rise and the church becomes rich. With £200 
per anniim in addition from government, the salary amounts to £400 or £500 a 
year. The clergymen then preach abstinence from politics as a Christian duty. 
It is quite clear that, with £400 a year, but little else except pure spirituality is 
required. 



KAKE'S EEBELLION. 41 

Others, interested in the object as much as he, to suffer or accept 
the sacrifice, if they can prevent it. 

English traders sold those articles which the Boers most dread, 
namely, arms and ammunition ; and when the number of guns 
amounted to five, so much alarm was excited among our neigh- 
bors that an expedition of several hundred Boers was seriously 
planned to deprive the Bakwains of their guns. Knowing that 
the latter would rather have fled to the Kalahari Desert than de- 
liver up their weapons and become slaves, I proceeded to the com- 
mandant, Mr. Gert Krieger, and, representing the evils of any such 
expedition, prevailed upon him to defer it; but that point being 
granted, the Boer wished to gain another, which was that I should 
act as a spy over the Bakwains. 

I explained the impossibility of my complying with his wish, 
even though my principles as an Englishman had not stood in 
the way, by referring to an instance in which Sechele had gone 
with his whole force to punish an under-chief without my knowl- 
edge. This man, whose name was Kake, rebelled, and was led 
on in his rebellion by his father-in-law, who had been regicide in 
the case of Sechele's father. Several of those who remained faith- 
ful to that chief were maltreated by Kake while passing to the 
Desert in search of skins. We had just come to live with the 
Bakwains when this happened, and Sechele consulted me. I ad- 
vised mild measures, but the messengers he sent to Kake were 
taunted with the words, " He only pretends to wish to follow the 
advice of the teacher : Sechele is a coward ; let him come and 
fight if he dare." The next time the offense was repeated, 
Sechele told me he was going to hunt elephants ; and as I knew 
the system of espionage which prevails among all the tribes, I 
never made inquiries that would convey the opinion that I dis- 
trusted them. I gave credit to his statement. He asked the 
loan of a black-metal pot to cook with, as theirs of pottery are 
brittle. I gave it and a handful of salt, and desired him to send 
back two tit-bits, the proboscis and fore-foot of the elephant. He 
set off, and I heard nothing more until we saw the Bakwains car- 
rying home their wounded, and heard some of the women uttering 
the loud wail of sorrow for the dead, and others pealing forth the 
clear scream of victory. It was then clear that Sechele had at- 
tacked and driven away the rebel. 



42 ESPIONAGE.— TALE OF THE CANNON. 

Mentioning this to the commandant in proof of the impossibil- 
ity of granting his request, I had soon an example how quickly 
a story can grow among idle people. The five guns were, with- 
in one month, multiplied into a tale of five hundred, and the 
cooking-pot, now in a museum at Cape Town, was magnified into 
a cannon ; "I had myself confessed to the loan," Where the five 
hundred guns came from, it was easy to divine ; for, knowing that 
I used a sextant, my connection with government was a thing of 
course ; and, as I must know all her majesty's counsels, I was 
questioned on the subject of the indistinct rumors which had 
reached them of Lord Rosse's telescope. "What right has your 
government to set up that large glass at the Cape to look after us 
behind the Cashan Mountains ?" 

Many of the Boers visited us afterward at Kolobeng, some for 
medical advice, and others to trade in those very articles which 
their own laws and policy forbid. When I happened to stumble 
upon any of them in the town, with his muskets and powder dis- 
played, he would begin an apology, on the ground that he was a 
poor man, etc., which I always cut short by frankly saying that I 
had nothing to do with either the Boers or their laws. Many 
attempts were made during these visits to elicit the truth about 
the guns and cannon ; and ignorant of the system of espionage 
which prevails, eager inquiries were made by them among those 
who could jabber a little Dutch. It is noticeable that the system 
of espionage is as well developed among the savage tribes as in 
Austria or Russia. It is a proof of barbarism. Every man in a 
tribe feels himself bound to tell the chief every thing that comes 
to his knowledge, and, when questioned by a stranger, either gives 
answers which exhibit the utmost stupidity, or such as he knows 
will be agreeable to his chief. I believe that in this way have 
arisen tales of their inability to count more than ten, as was as- 
serted of the Bechuanas about the very time when Sechele's fa- 
ther counted out one thousand head of cattle as a beginning of the 
stock of his young son. 

In the present case, Sechele, knowing every question put to his 
people, asked me how they ought to answer. My reply was, 
"Tell the truth." ^Every one then declared that no cannon 
existed there ; and our friends, judging the answer by what they 
themselves would in the circumstances have said, were confirmed 



HOSTILITY OF THE BOERS. 43 

in the opinion that the Bakwains actually possessed artillery. 
This was in some degree Ibeneficial to us, inasmuch as fear pre- 
vented any foray in our direction for eight years. During that 
time no winter passed without one or two tribes in the East 
country being plundered of both cattle and children.by the Boers. 
The plan pursued is the following: one or two friendly tribes are 
forced to accompany a party of mounted Boers, and these expe- 
ditions can be got up only in the winter, when horses may be 
used without danger of being lost by disease. When they reach 
the tribe to be attacked, the friendly natives are ranged in front, 
jto form, as they say, "a shield;" the Boers then coolly fire over 
their heads till the devoted people flee and leave cattle, wives, 
and children to the captors. This was done in nine cases during 
my residence in the interior, and on no occasion was a drop of 
Boer's blood shed. News of these deeds spread quickly among 
the Bakwains, and letters were repeatedly sent by the Boers to 
Sechele, ordering him to come and surrender himself as their vas- 
sal, and stop English traders from proceeding into the country 
with fire-arms for sale. But the discovery of Lake Ngami, here- 
after to be described, made the traders come in five-fold greater 
numbers, and Sechele replied, " I was made an independent chief 
and placed here by God, and not by you. I was never conquer- 
ed by Mosilikatze, as those tribes whom you rule over ; and the 
English are my friends. I get every thing I wish from them. I 
can not hinder them from going where they like." Those who are 
old enough to remember the threatened invasion of our own island 
may understand the effect which the constant danger of a Boerish 
invasion had on the minds of the Bakwains ; but no others can 
conceive how worrying were the messages and threats from the 
endless self-constituted authorities of the Magaliesberg Boers; and 
when to all this harassing annoyance was added the scarcity pro- 
duced by the drought, we could not wonder at, though we felt sorry 
for, their indisposition to receive instruction. 

The myth of the black pot assumed serious proportions. I 
attempted to benefit the tribes among the Boers of Magaliesberg 
by placing native teachers at different points. " You must teach 
the blacks," said Mr. Hendrick Potgeiter, the commandant in 
chief, "that they are not equal to us." Other Boers told me, "I 
might as well teach the baboons on the rocks as the Africans," 



44 BOERS COMPAEED TO BUSHMEN. 

but declined the test wliicli I proposed, namely, to examine whether 
they or my native attendants could read best. Two of their clergy- 
men came to baptize the children of the Boers ; so, supposing these 
good men would assist me in overcoming the repugnance of their 
flock to the education -of the blacks, I called on them ; but my 
visit ended in a ruse practiced by the Boerish commandant, where- 
by I was led, by professions of the greatest friendship, to retire to 
Kolobeng, while a letter passed me by another way to the other 
missionaries in the south, demanding my instant recall "for lend- 
ing a cannon to their enemies." The colonial government was also 
gravely informed that the story was true, and I came to be look- 
ed upon as a most suspicious character in consequence. 

These notices of the Boers are not intended to produce a sneer 
at their ignorance, but to excite the compassion of their friends. 
They are perpetually talking about their laws ; but practically 
theirs is only the law of the strongest. The Bechuanas could 
never understand the changes which took place in their com- 
mandants. "Why, one can never know who is the chief among 
these Boers. Like the Bushmen, they have no king — they must 
be the Bushmen of the English." The idea that any tribe of men 
could be so senseless as not to have an hereditary chief was so 
absurd to these people, that, in order not to appear equally stu- 
pid, I was obliged to tell them that we English were so anxious 
to preserve the royal blood, that we had made a young lady our 
chief. This seemed to them a most convincing proof of our sound 
sense. We shall see farther on the conhdence my account of our 
queen inspu-ed. 

The Boers, encouraged by the accession of Mr. Pretorius, determ- 
ined at last to put a stop to English traders going past Kolobeng, 
by dispersing the tribe of Bakwains, and expelling all the mis- 
sionaries. Sir George Cathcart proclaimed the independence of 
the Boers, the best thing that could have been done had they 
been between us and the Caffres. A treaty was entered into 
with these Boers ; an article for the free passage of Englishmen 
to the country beyond, and also another, that no slavery should 
be allowed in the independent territory, were duly inserted, as 
expressive of the views of her majesty's government at home. 
"But what about the missionaries?" inquired the Boers. '■'■You 
may do as you please with them,'''' is said to have been the answer 



THEY MAKE WAK ON THE BAKWAINS. 45 

of the " Commissioner." This remark, if uttered at all, was 
probably made in joke : designing men, however, circulated it, 
and caused the general belief in its accuracy which now prevails 
all over the country, and doubtless led to the destriiction of three 
mission stations immediately after. The Boers, four hundred in 
number, were sent by the late Mr. Pretorius to attack the Bak- 
wains in 1852. Boasting that the English had given up all the 
blacks into their power, and had agreed to aid them in their sub- 
jugation by preventing all supplies of ammunition from coming 
into the Bechuana country, they assaulted the Bakwains, and, 
besides killing a considerable number of adults, carried off two 
hundred of our school children into slavery. The natives under 
Sechele defended themselves till the approach of night enabled 
them to flee to the mountains ; and having in that defense killed 
a number of the enemy, the very first ever slain in this country 
by Bechuanas, I received the credit • of having taught tlie tribe 
to kill Boers ! My house, which had stood perfectly secure for 
years under the protection of the natives, was plundered in re- 
venge. English gentlemen, who had come in the footsteps of 
Mr. Gumming to hunt in the country beyond, and had deposited 
large quantities of stores in the same keeping, and upward of 
eighty head of cattle as relays for the return journeys, were 
robbed of all, and, when they came back to Kolobeng, found the 
skeletons of the guardians strewed all over the place. The books 
of a good library — my solace in our solitude — were not taken 
away, but handfuls of the leaves were torn out and scattered over 
the place. My stock of medicines was smashed ; and all our fur- 
niture and clothing carried off and sold at public auction to pay 
the expenses of the foray. 

I do not mention these things by way of making a pitiful wail 
over my losses, nor in order to excite commiseration ; for, though 
I do feel sorry for the loss of lexicons, dictionaries, &c., which had 
been the companions of my boyhood, yet, after all, the plundering 
only set me entirely free for my expedition to the north, and I 
have never since had a moment's concern for any thing I left 
behind. The Boers resolved to shut up the interior, and I determ- 
ined to open the country, and we shall see who have been most 
successful in resolution, they or I. 

A short sketch of African housekeeping may not prove unin- 



46 HOUSEBUILDING AND HOUSEKEEPING. 

teresting to the reader. The enth-e absence of shops led us to 
make every thing we needed from the raAV materials. You want 
bricks to build a house, and must forthwith proceed to the field, 
cut down a tree, and saw it into planks to make the brick-moulds ; 
the materials for doors and windows, too, are standing in the for- 
est ; and, if you want to be respected by the natives, a house of 
decent dimensions, costing an immense amount of manual labor, 
must be built. The people can not assist you much ; for, though 
most willing to labor for wages, the Bakwains have a curious in- 
ability to make or put things square : like all Bechuanas, their 
dwellings are made round. In the case of three large houses, 
erected by myself at different times, every brick and stick had to 
be put square by my own right hand. 

Having got the meal ground, the wife proceeds to make it 
into bread ; an extempore oven is often constructed by scooping 
out a large hole in an anthill, and using a slab of stone for a 
door. Another plan, which might be adopted by the Australians 
to produce something better than their " dampers," is to make 
a good fire on a level piece of ground, and, when the ground is 
thoroughly heated, place the dough in a small, short-handled fry- 
ing-pan, or simply on the hot ashes ; invert any sort of metal pot 
over it, draw the ashes around, and then make a small fire on the 
top. Dough, mixed with a little leaven from a former baking, and 
allowed to stand an hour or two in the sun, will by this process 
become excellent bread. 

We made our own butter, a jar serving as a churn ; and our 
own candles by means of moulds ; and soap was procured from 
the aslies of the plant salsola, or from wood-ashes, which in Africa 
contain so little alkaline matter that the boiling of successive leys 
has to be continued for a month or six weeks before the fat is 
saponified. There is not much hardship in being almost entirely 
dependent on ourselves ; there is something of the feeling which 
must have animated Alexander Selkirk on seeing conveniences 
springing up before him from his own ingenuity ; and married life 
is all the sweeter when so many comforts emanate directly from 
the thrifty striving housewife's hands. 

To some it may appear quite a romantic mode of life ; it is one 
of active benevolence, such as the good may enjoy at home. 
Take a single day as a sample of the whole. We rose -early, 



MODE OF SPENDING THE DAY. 47 

because, Jiowever hot the day maj have been, the evening, night, 
and morning at Kololbeng were deliciousl}^ refreshing ; cool is not 
the word, where you have neither an increase of cold nor heat to 
desire, and where you can sit out till midnight with no fear of 
coughs or rheumatism. After family worship and "breakfast be- 
tween six and seven, we went to keep school for all who would 
attend — men, women, and children being all invited. School 
over at eleven o'clock, while the missionary's wife was occupied 
in domestic ^matters, the missionary himself had some manual 
labor as a smith, carpenter, or gardener, according to whatever 
was needed for ourselves or for the people ; if for the latter, they 
worked for us in the garden, or at some other employment; 
skilled labor was thus exchanged for the unskilled. After din- 
ner and an hour's rest, the wife attended her infant-school, which 
the young, who were left by their parents entirely to their own 
caprice, liked amazingly, and generally mustered a hundred 
strong; or she varied that with a sewing-school, having classes 
of girls to learn the art ; this, too, was equally well relished. 
During the day every operation must be superintended, and both 
husband and wife must labor till the sun declines. After sunset 
the husband went into the town to converse with any one will- 
ing to do so, sometimes on general subjects, at other times on re- 
ligion. On three nights of the week, as soon as the milking of 
the cows was over and it had become dark, we had a public relig- 
ious service, and one of instruction on secular subjects, aided by 
pictures and specimens. These services were diversified by at- 
tending upon the sick and prescribing for them, giving food, ,and 
otherwise assisting the poor and wretched. We tried to gain their 
affections by attending to the wants of the body. The smallest 
acts of friendship, an obliging word and civil look, are, as St. Xa- 
vier thought, no despicable part of the missionary armor. Nor 
ought the good opinion of the most abject to be uncared for, when 
politeness may secure it. Their good word in the aggregate 
forms a reputation which may be well employed in procuring fa- 
vor for the Gospel. Show kind attention to the reckless oppo- 
nents of Christianity on the bed of sickness and pain, and they 
never can become your personal enemies. Here, if any where, 
love begets love. 

When at Kolobeng, during the droughts we were entirely de- 



48 LOCUSTS, FllOGS, ETC., USED AS FOOD. 

pendent on Kuruman for supplies of corn. Once we were re- 
duced to living on bran, to convert which into iine meal we had to 
ai'ind it three times over. We were much in want of animal food, 
which seems to he a greater necessary of life there than vegetari- 
ans Avould imagine. Being alone, we could not divide the butcher- 
meat of a slaughtered animal with a prospect of getting a return 
with regularity. Sechele had, by right of chieftainship, the breast 
of every animal slaughtered either at home or abroad, and he most 
obligingly sent us a liberal share during the whole j^criod of our 
sojourn. But these supplies were necessarily so irregular that we 
were sometimes lain to accept a dish of locusts. These are quite 
a blessing in the country, so much so that the ram-doctors some- 
times promised to bring them by their incantations. The locusts 
are strongly vegetable in taste, the flavor varying with the plants 
on which thcy*focd. There is a physiological reason why locusts 
and honey should be eaten together. Some are roasted and 
pounded into incal, which, eaten Avith a little salt, is palatable. It 
will keep thus for months. Boiled, they are disagreeable ; but 
when they are roasted I should much prefer locusts to shrimps, 
though I Avould avoid botli if possible. 

In traveling avc sometimes sufl'ered considerably from scarcity 
of meat, though not from absolute want of food. This was felt 
more especially by my children ; and the natives, to show their 
sympathy, often gave them a large kind of caterpillar, which they 
seemed to relish ; these insects could not be unwholesome, for the 
natives devoured them in large quantities themselves. 

Another article of which our children partook with eagerness 
was a very large frog, called "IMatlametlo."* 

These enormous frogs, which, when cooked, look like chickens, 
are supposed by the natives to Ml down from thunder-clouds, 
because after a heavy thunder-shower the pools, which are filled 
and retain water a few days, become instantly alive with this 
loud-croaking, pugnacious game. This phenomenon takes place 
in the driest parts of the desert, and in places where, to an ordi- 
naiy observer, there is not a sign of life. Having been once 
benighted in a district of the Kalahari where there was no 

* The ryxiccphalns adspersns of Dr. Smith. Length of head and body, 5^ 
inches ; foro legs, 3 inches ; hind legs, 6 inches. WidtJi of head posteriorly, 3 
inches; of body, 4^ inches. 



THE ELAND.— THE SCAVENGER BEETLE. 49 

prospect of getting water for our cattle for a day or two, I was 
surprised to hear in the fine still evening the croaking of frogs. 
Walking out until I was certain that the musicians were between 
me and our fire, I found that thej could be merry on nothing else 
but a prospect of rain. From the Bushmen I afterward learned 
that the matlametlo makes a hole at the root of certain bushes, 
and there ensconces himself during the months of drought. As 
he seldom emerges, a large variety of spider takes advantage of 
the hole, and makes its web across the orifice. He is thus fur- 
nished with a window and screen gratis; and no one but a Bush- 
man would think of searching beneath a spider's web for a frog. 
They completely eluded my search on the occasion referred to ; 
and as they rush forth into the hollows filled by the thunder- 
shower when the rain is actually falling, and the Bechuanas are 
cowering under their skin garments, the sudden chorus struck up 
simultaneously from all sides seems to indicate a descent from 
the clouds. 

The presence of these matlametlo in the desert in a time of 
drought was rather a disappointment, for I had been accustomed 
to suppose that the note was always emitted by them when they 
were chin-deep in water. Their music was always regarded in 
other spots as the most pleasant sound that met the ear after 
crossing portions of the thirsty desert ; and I could fully appre- 
ciate the sympathy for these animals shown by ^sop, himself an 
African, in his fable of the "Boys and the Frogs." 

It is remarkable that attempts have not been made to any 
extent to domesticate some of the noble and useful creatures of 
Africa in England. The eland, which is the most magnificent of 
all antelopes, would grace the parks of our nobility more than 
deer. This animal, from the excellence of its flesh, would be 
appropriate to our own country ; and as there is also a splendid 
esculent frog nearly as large as a chicken, it would no doubt 
tend to perpetuate the present alliance if we made a gift of that 
to France. 

The scavenger beetle is one of the most useful of all insects, as 
it effectually answers the object indicated by the name. Where 
they abound, as at Kuruman, the villages are sweet and clean, 
for no sooner are animal excretions dropped than, attracted by 
the scent, the scavengers are heard coming booming up the wind. 

D 



50 HOSTILITY OF THE BOEES. 

They roll away the droppings of cattle at once, in round pieces 
often as large as billiard-balls ; and when they reach a place 
proper by its softness for the deposit of their eggs and the safety 
of their young, they dig the soil out from beneath the ball till 
they have quite let it down and covered it : they then lay their 
eggs within the mass. While the larvee are growing, they de- 
vour the inside of the ball before coming above ground to begin 
the world for themselves. The beetles with their gigantic balls 
look like Atlas with the world on his back ; only they go back- 
ward, and, with their heads down, push with the hind legs, as 
if a boy should roll a snow-ball with his legs while standing 
on his head. As we recommend the eland to John Bull, and 
the gigantic frog to France,- we can confidently recommend this 
beetle to the dirty Italian towns and our own Sanitary Com- 
missioners. 

In trying to benefit the tribes living under the Boers of the 
Cashan Mountains, I twice performed a journey of about three 
Iiundred miles to the eastward of Kolobeng. Sechele had become 
so obnoxious to the Boers that, though anxious to accompany me 
in my journey, he dared not trust himself among them. This 
did not arise from the crime of cattle-stealing ; for that crime, so 
common among the Caffires, was never charged against his tribe, 
nor, indeed, against any Bechuana tribe. It is, in fact, unknown 
in the country, except during actual warfare. His independence 
and love of the English were his only faults. In my last jour- 
ney there, of about two hundred miles, on parting at the Hiver 
Marikwe he gave me two servants, "to be," as he said, "his arras 
to serve me," and expressed regret that he could not come him- 
self. "Suppose we went north," I said, "would you come?'" 
He then told me the story of Sebituane having saved his life, and 
expatiated on the far-famed generosity of that really great man. 
This was the first time I had thought of crossing the Desert to 
Lake Ngami. 

The conduct of the Boers, who, as will be remembered, had 
sent a letter designed to procure my removal out of the country, 
and their well-known settled policy which I have already de- 
scribed, became more fully developed on this than on any former 
occasion. When I spoke to Mr. Hendrick Potgeiter of the 
danger of hindering the Gospel of Christ among these poor 



SECHELE'S POSITION AS CHIEF. 51 

savages, he became greatly excited, and called one of his follow- 
ers to answer me. He threatened to attack any tribe that might 
receive a native' teacher, yet he promised to use his influence to 
prevent those under him from throwing obstacles in our way. I 
could perceive plainly that nothing more could be done in that 
direction, so I commenced collecting all the information I could 
about the desert, with the intention of crossing it, if possible. Se- 
komi, the chief of the Bamangwato, was acquainted with a route 
which he kept carefully to himself, because the Lake countiy 
abounded in ivory, and he drew large quantities thence periodi- 
cally at but small cost to himself. 

Sechele, who valued highly every thing European, and was al- 
ways fully alive to his own interest, was naturally ^nxious to get 
a share of that inviting field. He was most anxious to visit Se- 
bituane too, partly, perhaps, from a wish to show off his new ac- 
quirements, but chiefly, I believe, from having very exalted ideas 
of the benefits he would derive from the liberality of that renown- 
ed chieftain. In age and family Sechele is the elder and superior 
of Sekomi ; for when the original tribe broke up into Bamangwa- 
to, Bangwaketse, and Bakwains, the Bakwains retained the hered- 
itary chieftainship ; so their chief, Sechele, possesses certain ad- 
vantages over Sekomi, the chief of the Bamangwato. If the two 
were traveling or hunting together, Sechele would take, by right, 
the heads of the game shot by Sekomi. 

There are several vestiges, besides, of very ancient partitions 
and lordships of tribes. The elder brother of Sechele's father, be- 
coming blind, gave over the chieftainship to Sechele's father. The 
descendants of this man pay no tribute to Sechele, though he is 
the actual ruler, and superior to the head of that family ; and Se- 
chele, while in every other respect supreme, calls him Kosi, or 
Chief. The other tribes will not begin to eat the early pumpkins 
of a new crop until they hear that the Bahurutse have " bitten it," 
and there is a public ceremony on the occasion — the son of the 
chief being the first to taste of the new harvest. 

Sechele, by my advice, sent men to Sekomi, asking leave for 
me to pass along his path, accompanying the request with the 
present of an ox. Sekomi's mother, who possesses great influence 
over him, refused permission, because she had not been propitiated- 
This produced a fresh message ; and the most honorable man in 



52 PREPAEING TO CROSS THE DESERT. 

the Bakwain tribe, next to Sechele, was sent with an ox for both 
Sekomi and his mother. This, too, was met by refusal. It was 
said, " The Matebele, the mortal enemies of the Bechuanas, are in 
the direction of the lake, and, should they kill the white man, we 
shall incur great blame from all his nation." 

The exact position of the Lake Ngami had, for half a century 
at least, been correctly pointed out by the natives, who had visit- 
ed it when rains were more copious in the Desert than in more 
recent times, and many attempts had been made to reach it by 
passing through the Desert in the direction indicated ; but it was 
found impossible, even for Griquas, who, having some Bushman 
blood in them, may be supposed more capable of enduring thirst 
than Europeans. It was clear, then, that our only chance of 
success was by going round, instead of through, the Desert. 
The best time for the attempt would have been about the end 
of the rainy season, in March or April, for then we should have 
been likely to meet with pools of rain-water, which always dry 
up during the rainless winter. I communicated my intention to 
an African traveler, Colonel Steele, then aid-de-camp to the Mar- 
quis of Tweedale at Madras, and he made it known to two oth- 
er gentlemen, whose friendship we had gained during their Afri- 
can travel, namely, Major Vardon and Mr. Oswell. All of these 
gentlemen were so enamored with African hunting and African 
discovery that the two former must have envied the latter his 
good fortune in being able to leave India to undertake afresh the 
pleasures and pains of desert life. I believe Mr. Oswell came 
from his high position at a very considerable pecuniary sacrifice, 
and with no other end in view but to extend the boundaries of 
geographical knowledge. Before I knew of his coming, I had ar- 
ranged that the payment for the guides furnished by Sechele 
should be the loan of my wagon, to bring back whatever ivory 
he might obtain from the chief at the lake. When, at last, Mr. 
Oswell came, bringing Mr. Murray with him, he undertook to de- 
fray the entire expenses of the guides, and fully executed his gen- 
erous intention. 

Sechele himself would have come with us, but, fearing that 
the much-talked-of assault of the Boers might take place dur- 
ing our absence, and blame be attached to me for taking him 
away, I dissuaded him against it by saying that he knew 



THE KALAHAEI DESERT. 53 

Mr.Oswell " would "be as determined as himself to get througli 
the Desert." 

Before narrating the incidents of this journey, I may give some 
account of the great Kalahari Desert, in order that the reader may 
understand in some degree the nature of the difficulties we had to 
encounter. 

The space from the Orange Elver in the south, lat. 29°, tc 
Lake Ngami in the north, and from about 24° east long, to near 
the west coast, has been called a desert simply because it con- 
tains no running water, and very little water in wells. It is by 
no means destitute of vegetation and inhabitants, for it is covered 
with grass and a great variety of creeping plants ; besides which 
there are large patches of bushes, and even trees. It is remark- 
ably flat, but intersected in different parts by the beds of ancient 
rivers ; and prodigious herds of certain antelopes, which require 
little or no water, roam over the trackless plains. The inhab- 
itants, Bushmen and Bakalahari, prey on the game and on the 
countless rodentia and small species of the feline race which sub- 
sist on these. In general, the soil is light-colored soft sand, 
nearly pure silica. The beds of the ancient rivers contain much 
alluvial soil ; and as that is baked hard by the burning sun, rain- 
water stands in pools in some of them for several months in the 
year. 

The quantity of grass which grows on this remarkable region 
is astonishing, even to those who are familiar with India. It 
usually rises in tufts with bare spaces between, or the intervals 
are occupied by creeping plants, which, having their roots buried 
far beneath the soil, feel little the effects of the scorching sun. 
The number of these which have tuberous roots is very great ; 
and their structure is intended to supply nutriment and moisture, 
when, during the long droughts, they can be obtained nowhere 
else. Here we have an example of a plant, not generally tuber- 
bearing, becoming so under circumstances where that appendage 
is necessary to act as a reservoir for preserving its life ; and the 
same thing occurs in Angola to a species of grape-bearing vine, 
which is so furnished for the same purpose. The plant to which 
I at present refer is one of the cucurbitacese, which bears a 
small, scarlet-colored, eatable cucumber. Another plant, named 
Leroshua, is a blessing to the inhabitants of the Desert. We 



54 THE WATERMELON. 

see a small plant with linear leaves, and a stalk not thicker than 
a crow's quill ; on digging down a foot or eighteen inches beneath, 
we come to a tuber, often as large as the head of a young child ; 
when the rind is removed, we find it to be a mass of cellular tis- 
sue, filled with fluid much like that in a young turnip. Owing 
to the depth beneath the soil at which it is found, it is generally 
deliciously cool and refreshing. Another kind, named Mokuri, 
is seen in other parts of the country, where long-continued heat 
parches the soil. This plant is an herbaceous creeper, and depos- 
its under gound a number of tu.bers, some as large as a man's 
head, at spots in a circle a yard or more, horizontally, from the 
stem. The natives strike the ground on the circumference of the 
circle with stones, till, by hearing a difference of sound, they know 
the water-bearing tuber to be beneath. They then dig down a 
foot or so, and find it. 

But the most surprising plant of the Desert is the " Kengwe or 
Keme" {Cucumis caffer), the watermelon. In years when more 
than the usual quantity of rain falls, vast tracts of the country are 
literally covered with these melons ; this was the case annually 
when the fall of rain was greater than it is now, and the Bak- 
wains sent trading parties every year to the lake. It happens 
commonly once every ten or eleven years, and for the last three 
times its occurrence has coincided with an extraordinarily wet sea- 
son. Then animals of every sort and name, including man, rejoice 
in the rich supply. The elephant, true lord of the forest, rev- 
els in this fruit, and so do the different species of rhinoceros, al- 
though naturally so diverse in their choice of pasture. The various 
kinds of antelopes feed on them with equal avidity, and lions, hy- 
aenas, jackals, and mice, all seem to know and appreciate the com- 
mon blessing. These melons are not, however, all of them eatable ; 
some are sweet, and others so bitter that the whole are named by 
the Boers the "bitter watermelon." The natives select them by 
striking one melon after another with a hatchet, and applying the 
tongue to the gashes. They thus readily distinguish between 
the bitter and sweet. The bitter are deleterious, but the sweet are 
quite wholesome. This peculiarity of one species of plants bearing 
both sweet and bitter fruits occurs also in a red, eatable cucumber, 
often met with in the country. It is about four inches long, and 
about an inch and a half in diameter. It is of a bright scarlet 



BUSHMEN.— BAKALAHARI. 55 

color when ripe. Manj are bitter, others quite sweet. Even 
melons in a garden may be made bitter by a few bitter kengwe 
in the vicinity. The bees convey the pollen from one to the 
other. 

The human inhabitants of this tract of country consist of Bush- 
men and Bakalahari. The former are probably the aborigines of 
the southern portion of the continent, the latter the remnants of 
the first emigration of Bechuanas. The Bushmen live in the Des- 
ert from choice, the Bakalahari from compulsion, and both possess 
an intense love of liberty. The Bushmen are exceptions in lan- 
guage, race, habits, and appearance. They are the only real no- 
mades in the country ; they never cultivate the soil, nor rear any 
domestic animal save wretched dogs. They are so intimately 
acquainted with the habits of the game that they follow them in 
their migrations, and prey upon them from place to place, and 
thus prove as complete a check upon their inordinate increase as 
the other carnivora. The chief subsistence of the Bushmen is 
the flesh of game, but that is eked out by what the women col- 
lect of roots and beans, and fruits of the Desert. Those who in- 
habit the hot sandy plains of the Desert possess generally thin, 
wiry forms, capable of great exertion and of severe privations. 
Many are of low stature, though not dwarfish ; the specimens 
brought to Europe have been selected, like costermongers' dogs, 
on account of their extreme ugliness ; consequently, English ideas 
of the whole tribe are formed in the same way as if the ugliest 
specimens of the English were exhibited in Africa as character- 
istic of the entire British nation. That they are like baboons is 
in some degree true, just as these and other , sirai^ are in some 
points frightfully human. 

The Bakalahari are traditionally reported to be the oldest of 
the Bechuana tribes, and they are said to have possessed enor- 
mous herds of the large horned cattle mentioned by Bruce, until 
they were despoiled of them and driven into the Desert by a fresh 
migration of their own nation. Living ever since on the same 
plains with the Bushmen, subjected to the same influences of 
climate, enduring the same thirst, and subsisting on similar food 
for centuries, they seem to supply a standing proof that locality is 
not always sufficient of itself to account for difference in races. 
The Bakalahari retain in undying vigor the Bechuana love for 



56 



THE BAKALAHARI. 



agriculture and domestic animals. Thej hoe their gardens annu- 
ally, though often all they can hope for is a supply of melons and 
pumpkins. And they carefully rear small herds of goats, though 
[ have seen them lift water for them out of small wells with a bit 
of ostrich egg-shell, or hy spoonfuls. They generally attach them- 
selves to influential men in the different Bechuana tribes living 
adjacent to their desert home, in order to obtain supplies of spears, 
knives, tobacco, and dogs, in exchange for the skins of the animals 
they may kill. These are small carnivora of the feline species, 
including two species of jackal, the dark and the golden ; tht; 
former, '■'■ motlose" {Megalotis caj)ensis or Ca/pe fennec), has the 
warmest fur the country yields; the latter, "-pukuye'' {Canis me- 
somelas and C. aureits), is very handsome when made into the 
skin mantle called kaross. Next in value follow the " isipa" or 
small ocelot {I^elis nigripes), the '■'■tumie" or lynx, the wild cat, 
the spotted cat, and other small animals. Great numbers ofputi 
{duiker) and jpuruhuru {steinhuck) skins are got too, besides 
those of lions, leopards, panthers, and hyaenas. During the time 
I was in the Bechuana country, between twenty and thirty thou- 
sand skins were made up into karosses ; part of them were worn 
by the inhabitants, and part sold to traders : many, I believe, 
find their way to China. The Bakwains bought tobacco from 
the eastern tribes, then purchased skins with it from the Baka- 
lahari, tanned them, and sewed them into karosses, then went 
south to purchase heifer-calves with them, cows being the highest 
form of riches known, as I have often noticed from their asking 
"if Queen Victoria had many cows." The compact they enter 
into is mutually beneficial, but injustice and wrong are often per- 
peti-ated by one tribe of Bechuanas going among the Bakalahari 
of another tribe, and compelling them to deliver up the skins 
which they may be keeping for their friends. They are a timid 
race, and in bodily development often resemble the aborigines of 
Australia. They have thin legs and arms, and large, protmding 
abdomens, caused by the coarse, indigestible food they eat. . Their 
children's eyes lack lustre. I never saw them at play. A few*^^ 
Bechuanas may go into a village of Bakalahari, and domineer 
over the whole with impunity ; but when these same adventurers 
meet the Bushmen, they are fain to change their manners to 
fawning sycophancy ; they know that, if the request for tobacco 



FEMALE WATER-SUCKEES. 59 

is refused, these free sons of the Desert may settle the point as to 
its possession by a poisoned arrow. 

The dread of visits from Bechuanas of strange tribes causes the 
Bakalahari to choose their residences far from water ; and they 
not unfrequently hide their supplies by filling the pits with sand 
and making a fire over the spot. When they wish to draw water 
for use, the women come with twenty or thirty of their water-ves- 
sels in a bag or net on their backs. These water-vessels consist 
of ostrich egg-shells, with a hole in the end of each, such as would 
admit one's finger. The women tie a bunch of grass to one end 
of a reed about two feet long, and insert it in a hole dug as deep 
as the arm will reach ; then ram down the wet sand firmly round 
it. Applying the mouth to the free end of the reed, they form a 
vacuum in the grass beneath, in which the water collects, and in 
a short time rises into the mouth. An egg-shell is placed on the 
ground alongside the reed, some inches below the mouth of the 
sucker. A straw guides the water into the hole of the vessel, as 
she draws mouthful after mouthful from below. The water is 
made to pass along the outside, not through the straw. If any 
one will attempt to squirt water into a bottle placed some distance 
below his mouth, he will soon perceive the wisdom of the Bush- 
woman's contrivance for giving the stream direction by means of 
a straw. The whole stock of water is thus passed through the 
woman's mouth as a pump, and, when taken home, is carefully 
buried. I have come into villages where, had we acted a domi- 
neering part, and rummaged every hut, we should have found noth- 
ing ; but by sitting down quietly, and waiting with patience until 
the villagers were led to form a favorable opinion of us, a woman 
would bring out a shellful of the precious fluid from I know not 
where. 

The so-called Desert, it may be observed, is by no means a use- 
less tract of country. Besides supporting multitudes of both small 
and large animals, it sends something to the market of the world, 
and has proved a refuge to many a fugitive tribe — to tlie Bakala- 
hari first, and to the other Bechuanas in turn — as their lands were 
overrun by the tribe of true Caffres, called Matebele. The Bak- 
wains, the Bangwaketze, and the Bamangwato all fled thither; and 
the Matebele marauders, who came from the well-watered east, 
perished by hundreds in their attempts to follow them. One of 



60 WATER HIDDEN. 

the Bangwaketze chiefs, more wily than the rest, sent false guides 
to lead them on a track where, for hundreds of miles, not a drop 
of water could be found, and they perished in consequence. Many 
Bakwains perished too. Their old men, who could have told us 
ancient stories, perished in these flights. An intelligent Mokwain 
related to me how the Bushmen effectually Ibalked a party of his 
tribe which lighted on their village in a state of burning thirst. 
Believing, as he said, that nothing human could subsist without 
water, they demanded some, but were coolly told by these Bush- 
men that they had none, and never drank any. Expecting to find 
them out, they resolved to watch them night and day. They per- 
severed for some days, thinking that at last the water must come 
forth ; but, notwithstanding their watchfulness, kept alive by most 
tormenting thirst, the Bakwains were compelled to exclaim, "Yak I 
yak ! these are not men ; let us go." Probably the Bushmen had 
been subsisting on a store hidden under ground, which had eluded 
the vigilance of their visitors. 



DEPAETURE FROM KOLOBENrx. 61 



CHAPTER III. 

Departure from Kolobeng, 1st June, 1849. — Companions. — Our Route.— Abund- 
ance of Grass.— Serotli, a Fountain in the Desert.— Mode of digging Wells.— 
The Eland.— Animals of the Desert.— The Hysena.— The Chief Sekomi.— 
Dangers.— The wandering Guide. — Cross Purposes. — Slow Progress. — Want of 
Water.— Capture of a Bushwoman.— The Salt-pan at Nchokotsa.— The Mirage. 
— Reach the River Zouga. — T^e Quakers of Africa. — Discovery of Lake Ngami, 
1st August, 1849.— Its Extent.— Small Depth of Water.— Position as the Reser- 
voir of a great River System. — The Bamangwato and their Chief. — Desire to 
visit Sebituane, the Chief of the Makololo.— Refusal of Lechulatebe to furnish 
us with Guides. — Resolve to return to the Cape. — The Banks of the Zouga. — 
Pitfalls.— Trees of the District.— Elephants. — New Species of Antelope.— Fish 
in the Zouga. 

Such was the desert which we were now preparing to cross — 
a region formerly of terror to the Bechuanas from the numbers of 
serpents which infested it and fed on the different kinds of mice, 
and from the intense thirst which these people often endured when 
their water-vessels were insufficient for the distances to he travel- 
ed over before reaching the wells. 

Just before the arrival of my companions, a party of the people 
of the lake came to Kolobeng, stating that they were sent by 
Lechulatebe, the chief, to ask me to visit that country. They 
brought such flaming accounts of the quantities of ivory to be 
found there (cattle-pens made of elephants' tusks of enormous 
size, &c.), that the guides of the Bakwains were quite as eager to 
succeed in reaching the lake as any one of us could desire. This 
was fortunate, as we knew the way the strangers had come was 
impassable for wagons. 

Messrs. Oswell and Murray came at the end of May, and we 
all made a fair start for the unknown region on the 1st of June, 
1849. Proceeding northward, and passing through a range of 
tree-covered hills to Shokuane, formerly the residence of the 
Bakwains, we soon after entered on the high road to the Bamang- 
wato, which lies generally in the bed of an ancient river or wady 
that must formerly have flowed N. to S. The adjacent country 



62 SEEOTLI. 

is perfectly flat, but covered with open forest and bush, with 
abundance of grass ; the trees generally are a kind of acacia 
called " Monato," which appears a little to the south of this region, 
and is common as far as Angola. A large caterpillar, called 
" Nato," feeds by night on the leaves of these trees, and comes 
down by day to bury itself at the root in the sand, in order to 
escape the piercing rays of the sun. The people dig for it there, 
and are fond of it when roasted, on account of its pleasant vege- 
table taste. When about to pass into the chrysalis state, it buries 
itself in the soil, and is sometimes sought for as food even then. 
If left undisturbed, it comes forth as a beautiful butterfly: the 
transmutation was sometimes employed by me with good eflect 
when speaking with the natives, as an illustration of our own 
great change and resurrection. 

The soil is sandy, and there are here and there indications that 
at spots which now aflbrd no water whatever there were formerly 
wells and cattle stations. 

Boatlanama, our next station, is a lovely spot in the otherwise 
dry region. The wells from which we had to lift out the water 
for our cattle are deep, but they were well filled. A few villages 
of Bakalahari were found near them, and great numbers of pal- 
lahs, springbucks, Guinea-fowl, and small monkeys. 

Lopepe came next. This place afforded another proof of the 
desiccation of the country. The first time I passed it, Lopepe was 
a large pool with a stream flowing out of it to the south ; now it 
was with difficulty we could get our cattle watered by digging 
down in the bottom of a well. 

At Mashiie — where we found a never-failing supply of pure 
water in a sandstone rocky hollow — we left the road to the 
Bamangwato hills, and struck away to the north into the Desert. 
Having watered the cattle at a well called Lobotani, about N.W. 
of Bamangwato, we next proceeded to a real Kalahari fountain, 
called Serotli. The country around is covered with bushes and 
trees of a kind of leguminosse, with lilac flowers. The soil is 
soft white sand, very trying to the strength of the oxen, as the 
wheels sink into it over the felloes and drag heavily. At Serotli 
we found only a few hollows like those made by the buftalo and 
rhinoceros when they roll themselves in the mud. In a corner 
of one of these there appeared water, which would have been 



MODE OF DIGGING WELLS. . 63 

quickly lapped up by our dogs, had we not driven thera away. 
And yet this was all the apparent supply for some eighty oxen, 
twenty horses, and about a score of men. Our guide, Ramotobi, 
who had spent his youth in the Desert, declared that, though 
appearances were against us, there was plenty of water at hand. 
We had our misgivings, for the spades were soon produced ; but 
our guides, despising such new-fangled aid, began in good earnest 
to scrape out the sand with their hands. The only water we had 
any promise of for the next seventy miles — that is, for a journey 
of three days with the wagons — was to be got here. By the 
aid of both spades and fingers two of the holes were cleared out, 
so as to form pits six feet deep and about as many broad. Our 
guides were especially earnest in their injunctions to us not to 
break through the hard stratum of sand at 'the bottom, because 
they knew, if it were broken through, "the water would go 
away." They are quite correct, for the water seems to lie on 
this flooring of incipient sandstone. The value of the advice was 
proved in the case of an Englishman whose wits were none of the 
brightest, who, disregarding it, dug through the sandy stratum 
in the wells at Mohotluani : the water immediately flowed away 
downward, and the well became useless. When we came to the 
stratum, we found that the water flowed in on all sides close to 
the line where the soft sand came in contact with it. Allowing 
it to collect, we had enough for the horses that evening ; but as 
there was not sufficient for the oxen, we sent them back to Lobo- 
tani, where, after thirsting four full days (ninety-six hours), they 
got a good supply. The horses were kept by us as necessary to 
procure game for the sustenance of our numerous party. Next 
morning we found the water had flowed in faster than at first, 
as it invariably does in these reservoirs, owing to the passages 
widening by the flow. Large quantities of the sand come into the 
well with the water, and in the course of a few days the supply, 
which may be equal to th6 wants of a few men only, becomes 
sufficient for oxen as well. In these sucking-places the Bakala- 
hari get their supplies ; and as they are generally in the hollows 
of ancient river-beds, they are probably the deposits from rains 
gravitating thither ; in some cases they may be the actual fount- 
ains, which, though formerly supplying the river's flow, now no 
longer rise to the surface. 



64 ANIMALS OF THE DESERT. 

Here, though the water was perfectly inaccessilble to elands, 
large numbers of these fine animals fed around us ; and, when 
killed, they were not only in good condition, but their stomachs 
actually contained considerable quantities of water. 

I examined carefully the whole alimentary canal, in order to 
see if there were any peculiarity which might account for the fact 
that this animal can subsist for months together without drink- 
ing, but found nothing. Other animals, such as the diiiker 
{Cephaloj)us mergens) or puti (of the Bechuanas), the steinbuck 
[Tragulus rupestris) or puruhuru, the gemsbuck [Oryx capensia) 
or kukama, and the porcupine [Ilystrix cristata), are all able to 
subsist without water for many months at a time by living on 
bulbs and tubers containing moisture. They have sharp-pointed 
hoofs well adapted for digging, and there is little difficulty in 
comprehending their mode of subsistence. Some animals, on the 
other hand, are never seen but in the vicinity of water. The 
presence of the rhinoceros, of the buifalo and gnu {Catohlejpas gnu)^ 
of the giraffe, the zebra, and pallah [Antilope melatnpui), is always 
a certain indication of water being within a distance of seven or 
eight miles ; but one may see hundreds of elands {Boselajphus 
areas), gemsbuck, the tolo or koodoo [Strepsiceros cape?isis), also 
springbucks {Gazella euc/iore) and ostriches, without being war- 
ranted thereby in inferring the presence of water within thirty or 
forty miles. Indeed, the sleek, fat condition of the eland in sucli 
circumstances would not remove the apprehension of perishing 
by thirst from the mind of even a native. I believe, however, 
that these animals can subsist only where there is some moisture 
in the vegetation on which they feed ; for in one year of unusual 
drought we saw herds of elands and flocks of ostriches crowding 
to the Zouga from the Desert, and very many of the latter were 
killed in pitfalls on the banks. As long as there is any sap in 
the pasturage they seldom need water. But should a traveler see 
the "spoor" of a rhinoceros, or buffalo, or zebra, he would at once 
follow it up, well assured that before he had gone many miles he 
would certainly reach water. 

In the evening of our second day at Serotli, a hyasna, appear- 
ing suddenly among the grass, succeeded in raising a panic 
among our cattle. This false mode of attack is the plan which 
this cowardly animal always adopts. His courage resembles 



MESSAGE FROM SEKOML 67 

closely that of a turkey-cock. He will bite, if an animal is run- 
ning away ; but if the animal stand still, so does he. Seventeen 
of our draught oxen ran away, and in their flight went right into 
the hands of Sekomi, whom, from his being unfriendly to our 
success, we had no particular wish to see. Cattle-stealing, such 
as in the circumstances might have occurred in Caifraria, is here 
unknown ; so Sekomi sent back our oxen, and a message strong- 
ly dissuading us against attempting the Desert. "Where are 
you going ? You will be killed by the sun and thirst, and then 
all the white men will blame me for not saving you." This was 
backed by a private message from his mother. " Why do you 
pass me? I always made the people collect to hear the word 
that you have got. What guilt have I, that you pass without 
looking at me?" We replied by assuring the messengers that 
the white men would attribute our deaths to our own stupidity 
and " hard-headedness" (tlogo, e thata), "as we did not intend to 
allow our companions and guides to return till they had put us 
into our graves." We sent a handsome present to Sekomi, and 
a promise that, if he allowed the Bakalahari to keep the wells 
open for us, we would repeat the gift on our return. 

After exhausting all his eloquence in fruitless attempts to per- 
suade us to return, the under-chief, who headed the party of 
Sekomi's messengers, inquired, " Who is taking them ?" Look- 
ing round, he exclaimed, with a face expressive of the most un- 
feigned disgust, "It is E-amotobil" Our guide belonged to Se- 
komi's tribe, but had fled to Sechele ; as fugitives in this country 
are always well received, and may even afterward visit the tribe 
from which they had escaped, Ramotobi was in no danger, though 
doing that which he knew to be directly opposed to the interests 
of his own chief and tribe. 

All around Scroti the country is perfectly flat, and composed 
of soft white sand. There is a peculiar glare of bright sunlight 
from a cloudless sky over the whole scene ; and one clump of 
trees and bushes, with open spaces between, looks so exactly like 
another, that if you leave the wells, and walk a quarter of a mile 
in any direction, it is difficult to return. Oswell and Murray 
went out on one occasion to get an eland, and were accompanied 
by one of the Bakalahari. The perfect sameness of the country 
caused even this son of the Desert to lose his way; a most 



Q8 CROSS PUEPOSES. 

puzzling conversation forthwith ensued between them and their 
guide. One of the most common phrases of the people is "Kia 
itumela," I thank you, or I am pleased; and the gentlemen were 
both quite familiar with it, and with the word "metse," water. 
But there is a word very similar in sound, " Kia timela," I am 
wandering ; its perfect is " Ki timetse," I have wandered. The 
party had been roaming about, perfectly lost, till the sun went 
down; and, through their mistaking the verb "wander" for "to 
be pleased," and "water," the colloquy went on at intervals 
during the whole bitterly cold night in somewhat the following 
style : 

" Where are the wagons ?" 

I^eal answer. "I don't know. I have wandered. I never 
wandered before. I am quite lost." 

Supposed answer. " I don't know. I want water. I am glad, 
I am quite pleased. I am thankful to you." 

" Take us to the wagons, and you will get plenty of water." 

Heal answer (looking vacantly around). " How did I wander ? 
Perhaps the well is there, perhaps not. I don't know. I have 
wandered." 

Sxipjposed answer. " Something about thanks ; he says he is 
pleased, and mentions water again." The guide's vacant stare 
while trying to remember is thought to indicate mental imbecili- 
ty, and the repeated thanks were supposed to indicate a wish to 
deprecate their wrath. 

" Well, Livingstone has played us a pretty trick, giving us in 
charge of an idiot. Catch us trusting him again. What can 
this fellow mean by his thanks and talk about water ? Oh, you 
born fool! take us to the wagons, and you will get both meat 
and water. Wouldn't a thrashing bring him to his senses again ?" 
" No, no, for then he will run away, and we shall be worse oif 
than we are now." 

The hunters regained the wagons next day by their own 
sagacity, which becomes wonderfully quickened by a sojourn in 
the Desert ; and we enjoyed a hearty laugh on the explanation of 
their midnight colloquies. Frequent mistakes of this kind occur. 
A man may tell his interpreter to say that he is a member of the 
family of the chief of the white men ; " Yes^ you speak like a chief,'''' 
is the reply, meaning, as they explain it, that a chief may talk 



SLOW PROGRESS. 69 

nonsense without any one daring to contradict him. Thej proba- 
bly have ascertained, from that same interpreter, that this rela- 
tive of the white chief is very poor, having scarcely any thing in 
his wagon. 

I sometimes felt annoyed at the low estimation in which some 
of my hunting friends were held ; for, believing that the chase is 
eminently conducive to the formation of a brave and noble charac- 
ter, and that the contest with wild beasts is well adapted for fos- 
tering that coolness in emergencies, and active presence of mind, 
which we all admire, I was naturally anxious that a higher esti- 
mate of my countrymen should be formed in the native mind. 
"Have these hunters, who come so far and work so hard, no meat 
at home?" — "Why, these men are rich, and could slaughter oxen 
every day of their lives." — "And yet they come here, and endure 
so much thirst for the sake of this dry meat, none of which is 
equal to beef?" — "Yes, it is for the sake of play besides" (the 
idea of sport not being in the language). This produces a laugh, 
as much as to say, "Ah! you know better;" or, "Your friends 
are fools." When they can get a man to kill large quantities of 
game for them, whatever he may think of himself or of his achieve- 
ments, they pride themselves in having adroitly turned to good 
account the folly of an itinerant butcher. 

The water having at last flowed into the wells we had dug in 
sufficient quantity to allow a good drink to all our cattle, we de- 
parted from Serotli in the afternoon ; but as the sun, even in 
winter, which it now was, is always very powerful by day, the 
wagons were dragged but slowly through the deep, heavy sand, 
and we advanced only six miles before sunset. We could only 
travel in the mornings and evenings, as a single day in the hot 
sun and heavy sand would have knocked up the oxen. Next 
day we passed Pepacheu (white tufa), a hollow lined with tufa, in 
which water sometimes stands, but it was now dry; and at night 
our trocheamer* showed that we had made but twenty-five miles 
from Serotli. 

Ramotobi was angry at the slowness of our progress, and told 
us that, as the next water was three days in front, if we traveled 

* This is an instrument which, when fastened on the wagon-wheel, records the 
number of revolutions made. By multiplying this number by the circumference of 
the wheel, the actual distance traveled over is at once ascertained. 



70 WANT OF WATEE. 

SO slowly we should never get there at all. The utmost endeav- 
ors of the servants, cracking their whips, screaming and heating, 
got only nineteen miles out of the poor beasts. We had thus 
proceeded forty-four miles from Serotli ; and the oxen were more 
exhausted by the soft nature of the country, and the thirst, than 
if they had traveled double the distance over a hard road con- 
taining supplies of water : we had, as far as we could judge, still 
thirty miles more of the same dry work before us. At this season 
the grass becomes so dry as to crumble to powder in the hands ; 
so the poor beasts stood wearily chewing, without taking a single 
fresh mouthful, and lowing painfully at the smell of water in 
our vessels in the wagons. We were all determined to succeed ; 
so we endeavored to save the horses by sending them forward 
with the guide, as a means of making a desperate effort in case 
the oxen should fail. Murray went forward with them, while 
Oswell and I remained to bring the wagons on their trail as far 
as the cattle could drag them, intending then to send the oxen 
forward too. 

The horses walked quickly away from us ; but, on the morning 
of the third day, when we imagined the steeds must be near the 
water, we discovered them just alongside the wagons. The guide, 
having come across the fresh footprints of some Bushmen who 
had gone in an opposite direction to that which we wished to go, 
turned aside to follow them. An antelope had been ensnared in 
one of the Bushmen's pitfalls. Murray followed Eamotobi most 
trustingly along the Bushmen's spoor, though that led them away 
from the water we were in search of ; witnessed the operation of 
slaughtering, skinning, and cutting up the antelope ; and then, 
after a hard day's toil, found himself close upon the wagons ! 
The knowledge still retained by Ramotobi of the trackless waste 
of scrub, through which we were now passing, seemed admirable. 
For sixty or seventy miles beyond Serotli, one clump of bushes 
and trees seemed exactly like another; but, as we walked together 
this morning, he remarked, "When we come to that hollow we 
shall light upon the highway of Sekomi ; and beyond that again 
lies the E-iver Mokoko ;" which, though we passed along it, I could 
not perceive to be a river-bed at all. 

After breakfast, some of the men, who had gone forward on a 
little path with some footprints of water-loving animals upon it, 



CAPTUEE OF A BUSHWOMAI^, 71 

returned with the joyful tidings of " metse,'''' water, exhibiting the 
mud on their knees in confirmation of the news being true. It 
does one's heart good to see the thirsty oxen rush into a pool of 
delicious rain-water, as this was. In they dash until the water is 
deep enough to be nearly level with their throat, and then they 
stand drawing slowly in the long, refreshing mouthfuls, until their 
formerly collapsed sides distend as if they would burst. So much 
do they imbibe, that a sudden jerk, when they come out on the 
bank, makes some of the water run out again from their mouths ; 
but, as they have been days without food too, they very soon com- 
mence to graze, and of grass there is always abundance every 
where. This pool was called Mathuluani ; and thankful we were 
to have obtained so welcome a supply of water. 

After giving the cattle a rest at this spot, we proceeded down 
the dry bed of the River Mokoko. The name refers to the water- 
bearing stratum before alluded to ; and in this ancient bed it bears 
enough of water to admit of permanent wells in several parts of it. 
We had now the assurance from Ramotobi that we should suifer 
no more from thirst. Twice we found rain-water in the Mokoko 
before we reached Mokokonyani, where the water, generally below 
gTOund elsewhere, comes to the surface in a bed of tufa. The ad- 
jacent country is all covered with low, thorny scrub, with grass, 
and here and there clumps of the " wait-a-bit thorn," or Acacia 
detinens. At Lotlakani (a little reed), another spring three miles 
farther down, we met with the first Palmyra trees which we had 
seen in South Africa ; they were twenty-six in number. 

The ancient Mokoko must have been joined by other rivers 
below this, for it becomes very broad, and spreads out into a large 
lake, of which the lake we were now in search of formed but a 
very small part. We observed that, wherever an ant-eater had 
made his hole, shells were thrown out with the earth, identical 
with those now alive in the lake. 

When we left the Mokoko, Eamotobi seemed, for the first time, 
to be at a loss as to which direction to take. He had passed only 
once away to the west of the Mokoko, the scenes of his boyhood. 
Mr. Oswell, while riding in front of the wagons, happened to spy 
a Bushwoman running away in a bent position, in order to escape 
observation. Thinking it to be a lion, he galloped up to her. 
She thought herself captured, and began to deliver up her poor 



72 SALT-PAN.— MIEAGE. 

little property, consisting of a few traps made of cords ; but, when 
I explained that we only wanted water, and would pay her if she 
led us to it, she consented to conduct us to a spring. It was then 
late in the afternoon, but she walked briskly before our horses for 
eight miles, and showed us the water of Nchokotsa. After lead- 
ing us to the water, she wished to go away home, if indeed she 
had any — she had fled from a party of her countrymen, and was 
now living far from all others with her husband — but as it was 
now dark, we wished her to remain. As she believed herself still 
a captive, we thought she might slip away by night ; so, in order 
that she should not go away with the impression that we were 
dishonest, we gave her a piece of meat and a good large bunch 
of beads ; at the sight of the latter she burst into a merry laugh, 
and remained without suspicion. 

At Nchokotsa we came upon the first of a great number of salt- 
pans, covered with an efflorescence of lime, probably the nitrate. 
A thick belt of mopane-trees (a BauMnid) hides this salt-pan, 
which is twenty miles in circumference, entirely from the view 
of a person coming from the southeast ; and, at the time the pan 
burst upon our view, the setting sun was casting a beautiful blue 
haze over the white incrustations, making the whole look exactly 
like a lake. Oswell threw his hat up in the air at the sight, and 
shouted out a huzza which made the poor Bushwoman and the 
Bakwains think him mad. I was a little behind him, and was as 
completely deceived by it as he ; but, as we had agreed to allow 
each other to behold the lake at the same instant, I felt a little 
chagrined that he had, unintentionally, got the first glance. We 
had no idea that the long-looked- for lake was still more than three 
hundred miles distant. One reason of our mistake was, that the 
E-iver Zouga was often spoken of by the same name as the lake, 
viz., Noka ea Batletli (" Eiver of the Batletli"). 

The mirage on these salinas was marvelous. It is never, I 
believe, seen in perfection, except over such saline incrustations. 
Here not a particle of imagination was necessary for realizing the 
exact picture of large collections of water ; the waves danced along 
above, and the shadows of the trees were vividly reflected beneath 
the surface in such an admirable manner, that the loose cattle, 
whose thirst had not been slaked sufiiciently by the very brackish 
water of Nchokotsa, with the horses, dogs, and even the Hotten- 



THE ZOUGA. 73 

tots ran off toward the deceitful pools. A herd of zebras in the 
mirage looked so exactly like elephants that Oswell hegan to 
saddle a horse in order to hunt them ; but a sort of break in the 
haze dispelled the illusion. Looking to the west and northwest 
from Nchokotsa, we could see .columns of black smoke, exactly- 
like those from a steam-engine, rising to the clouds, and were 
assured that these arose from the burning reeds of the Noka ea 
Batletli. 

On the 4th of July we went forward on horseback toward what 
we supposed to be the lake, and again and again did we seem to 
see it ; but at last we came to the veritable water of the Zouga, 
and found it to be a river running to the N.E. A village of 
Bakurutse lay on the opposite bank ; these live among Batletli, 
a tribe having a click in their language, and who were found by 
Sebituane to possess large herds of the great horned cattle. They 
seem allied to the Hottentot family. Mr. Oswell, in trying to 
cross the river, got his horse bogged in the swampy bank. Two 
Bakwains and I managed to get over by wading beside a fishing- 
weir. The people were friendly, and informed us that this water 
came out of the Ngami. This news gladdened all our hearts, for 
we now felt certain of reaching our goal. We might, they said, 
be a moon on the way ; but we had the River Zouga at our feet, 
and by following it we should at last reach the broad water. 

Next day, when we were quite disposed to be friendly with 
every one, two of the Bamangwato, who had been sent on before 
us by Sekomi to drive away all the Bushmen and Bakalahari from 
our path, so that they should not assist or guide us, came and sat 
down by our fire. We had seen their footsteps fresh in the way, 
and they had watched our slow movements forward, and wondered 
to see how we, without any Bushmen, found our way to the waters. 
This was the first time they had seen Ramotobi. "You have 
reached the river now," said they;" and we, quite disposed to 
laugh at having won the game, felt no ill-will to any one. They 
seemed to feel no enmity to us either; but, after an apparently 
friendly conversation, proceeded to fulfill to the last the instruc- 
tions of their chief Ascending the Zouga in our front, they cir- 
culated the report that our object was to plunder all the tribes 
living on the river and lake ; but when they had got half way up 
the river, the principal man sickened of fever, turned back some 



74 THE QUAKERS OF AFRICA. 

distance, and died. His death had a good effect, for the villagers 
connected it with the injmy he was attempting to do to us. They 
all saw through Sekomi's reasons for wishing us to fail in our at- 
tempt ; and though thej came to us at first armed, kind and fair 
treatment soon produced perfect confidence. 

When we had gone up the hank of this beautiful river about 
ninety-six miles from the point where we first struck it, and 
understood that we were still a considerable distance from the 
Ngami, we left all the oxen and wagons, except Mr. OswelFs, 
which was the smallest, and one team, at Ngabisane, in the 
hope that they would be recruited for the home journey, while 
we made a push for the lake. The Bechuana chief of the Lake 
region, who had sent men to Sechele, now sent orders to all 
the people on the river to assist us, and we were . received by 
the Bakoba, whose language clearly shows that they bear an 
affinity to the tribes in the north. They call themselves Bayeiye, 
i. e., men; but the Bechuanas call them Bakoba, which contains 
somewhat of the idea of slaves. They have never been known 
to fight, and, indeed, have a tradition that their forefathers, in 
their first essays at war, made their bows of the Palma Christi, 
and, when these broke, they gave up fighting altogether. They 
have invariably submitted to the rule of every horde which has 
overrun the countries adjacent to the rivers on which they spe- 
cially love to dwell. They are thus the Quakers of the body pol- 
itic in Africa. 

A long time after the period of our visit, the chief of the Lake, 
thinking to make soldiers of them, took the trouble to furnish them 
with shields. "Ah! we never had these before ; that is the rea- 
son we have always succumbed. Now we will fight." But a 
marauding party came from the Makololo, and our " Friends" at 
once paddled quickly, night and day, down the Zouga, never dar- 
ing to look behind them till -they reached the end of the river, at 
the point where we first saw it. 

The canoes of these inland sailors are truly primitive craft : 
they are hollowed out of the trunks of single trees by means of 
iron adzes ; and if the tree has a bend, so has the canoe. I liked 
the frank and manly bearing of these men, and, instead of sitting 
in the wagon, preferred a seat in one of the canoes. I found 
they regarded their rude vessels as the Arab does his camel. 



DISCOVEKY OF LAKE NGAMI. 75 

They have always fires in them, and prefer sleeping in them 
while on a journey to spending the night on shore. " On land 
you have lions," say they, " serpents, hysenas, and your ene- 
mies ; but in your canoe, behind a bank of reed, nothing can 
harm you." Their submissive disposition leads to their villages 
being frequently visited by hungry strangers. We had a pot on 
the fire in the canoe by the way, and when we drew near the 
villages devoured the contents. When fully satisfied ourselves, 
I found we could all look upon any intruders with perfect com- 
placency, and show the pot in proof of having devoured the last 
morsel. 

While ascending in this way the beautifully-wooded river, we 
came to a large stream flowing into it. This was the River Ta- 
munak'le. I inquired whence it came. " Oh, from a country 
full of rivers — so many no one can tell their number — and full of 
large trees." This was the first confirmation of statements I had 
heard from the Bakwains who had been with Sebituane, that the 
country beyond was not " the large sandy plateau" of the philos- 
ophers. The prospect of a highway capable of being traversed 
by boats to an entirely unexplored and very populous region, 
grew from that time forward stronger and stronger in my mind ; 
so much so that, when we actually came to the lake, this idea oc- 
cupied such a large portion of my mental vision that the actual 
discovery seemed of but little importance. I find I wrote, when 
the emotions caused by the magnificent prospects of the new coun- 
try were first awakened in my breast, that they "might subject 
me to the charge of enthusiasm, a charge which I wished I de- 
served,' as nothing good or great had ever been accomplished in 
the world without it."* 

Twelve days after our departure from the wagons at Ngabi- 
sane we came to the northeast end of Lake Ngami ; and on the 
1st of August, 1849, we went down together to the broad part, 
and, for the first time, this fine-looking sheet of water was beheld 
by Europeans. The direction of the lake seemed to be N.N.E. 
and S.S.W. by compass. The southern portion is said to bend 
round to the west, and to receive the Teoughe from the north at 



* Letters published by tbe Royal Geographical Society. Read 11th February and 
8th April, 1850. 



76 THE NGAMI. 

its northwest extremity. We could detect no horizon where we 
stood looking S.S.W., nor could we form any idea of the extent 
of the lake, except from the reports of the inhabitants of the dis- 
trict ; and, as they professed to go round it in three days, allow- 
ing twenty-five miles a day would make it seventy-five, or less 
than seventy geographical miles in circumference. Other guesses 
have been made since as to its circumference, ranging between 
seventy and one hundred miles. It is shallow, for I subsequent- 
ly saw a native punting his canoe over seven or eight miles of the 
northeast end ; it can never, therefore, be of much value as a com- 
mercial highway. In fact, during the months preceding the 
annual supply of water from the north, the lake is so shallow that 
it is with difficulty cattle can approach the water through the 
boggy, reedy banks. These are low on all sides, but on the w^est 
there is a space devoid of trees, showing that the waters have 
retired thence at no very ancient date. This is another of the 
proofs of desiccation met with so abundantly throughout the 
whole country. A number of dead trees lie on this space, some 
of them imbedded in the mud, right in the water. We were 
informed by the Bayeiye, who live on the lake, that when the 
annual inundation begins, not only trees of great size, but ante- 
lopes, as the springbuck and tsessebe {Acronotus lunatd), are 
swept down by its rushing waters ; the trees are gradually driv- 
en by the winds to the opposite side, and become imbedded in 
mud. 

The water of the lake is perfectly fresh when full, but brackish 
when low; and that coming down the Tamunak'le we found to 
be so clear, cold, and soft, the higher we ascended, that the idea 
of melting snow was suggested to our minds. We found this 
region, with regard to that from which we had come, to be clearly 
a hollow, the lowest point being Lake Kumadau ; the point of the 
ebullition of water, as shown by one of Newman's barometric ther- 
mometers, was only between 207 1^° and 206°, giving an elevation 
of not much more than two thousand feet above the level of the 
sea. We had descended above two thousand feet in coming to it 
from Kolobeng. It is the southern and lowest part of the great 
river system beyond, in which large tracts of country are inundated 
annually by tropical rains, hereafter to be described. A little of 
that water, which in the countries farther north produces inunda- 



THE NGAMI. 79 

tion, comes as far south as 20° 20^, the latitude of the upper end 
of the lake, and instead of flooding the country, falls into the 
lake as into a reservoir. It begins to flow down the Embarrah, 
which divides into the rivers Tzo and Teoughe. The Tzo divides 
into the Tamunak'le and Mababe ; the Tamunak'le discharges 
itself into the Zouga, and the Teoughe into the lake. The flow 
begins either in March or April, and the descending waters find 
the channels of all these rivers dried out, except in certain pools 
in their beds, which have long dry spaces between them. The 
lake itself is very low. The Zouga is but a prolongation of the 
Tamunak'le, and an arm of the lake reaches up to the point 
where the one ends and the 6ther begins. The last is narrow 
and shallow, while the Zouga is broad and deep. The narrow 
arm of the lake, which on the map looks like a continuation of 
the Zouga, has never been observed to flow either way. It is as 
stagnant as the lake itself. 

The Teoughe and Tamunak'le, being essentially the same river, 
and receiving their supplies from the same source (the Embarrah 
or Varra), can never outrun each other. If either could, or if 
the Teoughe could fill the lake — a thing which has never hap- 
pened in modern times — then this little arm would prove a con- 
venient escapement to prevent inundation. If the lake ever be- 
comes lower than the bed of the Zouga, a little of the water of 
the Tamunak'le might flow into it instead of down the Zouga ; 
we should then have the phenomenon of a river flowing two ways ; 
but this has never been observed to take place here, and it is 
doubtful if it ever can occur in this locality. The Zouga is broad 
and deep when it leaves the Tamunak'le, but becomes gradually 
narrower as you descend about two hundred miles ; there it flows 
into Kumadau, a small lake about three or four miles broad and 
twelve long. The water, which higher up begins to flow in April, 
does not make much progress in filling this lake till the end of 
June. In September the rivers cease to flow. When the supply 
has been more than usually abundant, a little water flows beyond 
Kumadau, in the bed first seen by us on the 4th of July ; if the 
quantity were larger, it might go further in the dry rocky bed of 
the Zouga, since seen still further to the east. The water supply 
of this part of the river system, as will be more fully explained 
further on, takes place in channels prepared for a much more 



80 THE BAMANGWATO AND THEIR CHIEF. 

copious flow. It resembles a deserted Eastern garden, where all 
the embankments and canals for irrigation can be traced, but 
where, the main dam and sluices having been allowed to get out 
of repair, only a small portion can be laid under water. In the 
case of the Zouga the channel is perfect, but water enough to fill 
the whole channel never comes down ; and before it finds its way- 
much beyond Kumadau, the upper supply ceases to run and 
the rest becomes evaporated. The higher parts of its bed even 
are much broader and more capacious than the lower toward 
Kumadau. The water is not absorbed so much as lost in filling 
up an empty channel, from which it is to be removed by the air 
and sun. There is, I am convinced, no such thing in the country 
as a river running into sand and becoming lost. The phenome- 
non, so convenient for geographers, haunted my fancy for years ; 
but I have failed in discovering any thing except a most insignifi- 
cant approach to it. 

My chief object in coming to the lake was to visit Sebituane, 
the great chief of the Makololo, who was reported to live some two 
hundred miles beyond. We had now come to a half-tribe of the 
Bamangwato, called Batauana. Their chief was a young man 
named Lechulatebe. Sebituane . had conquered his father Mo- 
remi, and Lechulatebe received part of his education while a 
captive among the Bayeiye. His uncle, a sensible man, ran- 
somed him ; and, having collected a number of families together, 
abdicated the chieftainship in favor of his nephew. As Lechu- 
latebe had just come into power, he imagined that the proper 
way of showing his abilities was to act directly contrary to every 
thina; that his uncle advised. When we came, the uncle recom- 
mended him to treat us handsomely, therefore the hopeful youth 
presented us with a goat only. It ought to have been an ox. 
So I proposed to my companions to loose the animal and let him 
go, as a hint to his master. They, however, did not wish to 
insult him. I, being more of a native, and familiar with their 
customs, knew that this shabby present was an insult to us. 
We wished to purchase some goats or oxen ; Lechulatebe offered 
us elephants' tusks. " No, we can not eat these ; we want some- 
thing to fill our stomachs." "Neither can I; but I hear you 
white men are all very fond of these bones, so I offer them; 
I want to put the goats into my own stomach." A trader, who 



BANKS OF THE ZOUGA.— PITFALLS. 81 

accompanied us, was then purchasing ivory at the rate of ten good 
large tusks for a musket worth thirteen shillings. They were 
called " bones ;" and I myself saw eight instances in which the 
tusks had been left to rot with the other bones where the ele- 
phant fell. The Batauana never had a chance of a market before ; 
but, in less than two years after our discovery, not a man of them 
could be found who was not keenly alive to the great value of 
the article. 

On the day after our arrival at the lake, I applied to Lechu- 
latebe for guides to Sebituane. As he was much afraid of that 
chief, he objected, fearing lest other white men should go thither 
also, and give Sebituane guns ; whereas, if the traders came to 
him alone, the possession of fire-arms would give him such a su- 
periority that Sebituane would be afraid of him. It was in vain 
to explain that I would inculcate peace between them — that Sebi- 
tuane had been a father to him and Sechele, and was as anxious 
to see me as he,- Lechulatebe, had been. He offered to give me 
as much ivory as I needed without going to that chief; but when 
I refused to take any, he unwillingly consented to give me guides. 
Next day, however, when Oswell and I were prepared to start, 
with the horses only, we received a senseless refusal ; and like Se- 
komi, who had thrown obstacles in our way, he sent men to the 
Bayeiye with orders to refuse us a passage across the river. Try- 
ing hard to form a raft at a narrow part, I worked many hours 
in the water ; but the dry wood was so worm-eaten it would not 
bear the weight of a single person. I was not then aware of the 
number of alligators which exist in the Zouga, and never think 
of my labor in the water without feeling thankful that I escaped 
their jaws. The season was now far advanced ; and as Mr. Os- 
well, with his wonted generous feelings, volunteered, on the spot, 
to go down to the Cape and bring up a boat, we resolved to make 
our way south again. 

Coming down the Zouga, we had now time to look at its banks. 
These are very beautiful, resembling closely many parts of the 
River Clyde above Glasgow. The formation is soft calcareous 
tufa, such as forms the bottom of all this basin. The banks are 
perpendicular on the side to which the water swings, and sloping 
and grassy on the other. The slopes are selected for the pitfalls 
designed by the Bayeiye to entrap the animals as they come to 

F 



32 TREES OF THE DISTRICT. 

drink. These are about seven or eight feet deep, three or four 
feet wide at the mouth, and gradually decrease till they are only 
about a foot wide at the bottom. The mouth is an oblong square 
(the only square thing made by the Bechuanas, for every thing 
else is round), and the long diameter at the surface is about equal 
to the depth. The decreasing width toward the bottom is in- 
tended to make the animal wedge himself more firmly in by his 
weight and struggles. The pitfalls are usually in pairs, with a 
wall a foot thick left uncut between the ends of each, so that 
if the beast, when it feels its fore legs descending, should try to 
save itself from going in altogether by striding the hind legs, he 
would spring forward and leap into the second with a force which 
insures the fall of his whole body into the trap. They are cover- 
ed with great care. All the excavated earth is removed to a dis- 
tance, so as not to excite suspicion in the minds of the animals. 
Reeds and grass are laid across the top ; above this the sand is 
thrown, and watered so as to appear exactly like the rest of the 
spot. Some of our party plumped into these pitfalls more than 
once, even when in search of them, in order to open them to pre- 
vent the loss of our cattle. If an ox sees a hole, he carefully 
avoids it ; and old elephants have been known to precede the herd 
and whisk oif the coverings of the pitfalls on each side all the way 
down to the water. We have known instances in which the old 
among these sagacious animals have actually lifted the young out 
of the trap. 

The trees which adorn the banks are magnificent. Two enor- 
mous baobabs {Adansonia digiiata), or mowanas, grow near its 
confluence with the lake where we took the observations for the 
latitude (20° 20' S.). We were unable to ascertain the longi- 
tude of the lake, as our watches were useless ; it may be between 
22° and 23° E. The largest of the two baobabs was 76 feet in 
girth. The palmyra appears here and there among trees not 
met with in the south. The mokuchong, or moshoma, bears an 
edible fruit of indifferent quality, but the tree itself would be a 
fire specimen of arboreal beauty in any part of the world. The 
trunk is often converted into canoes. The motsouri, which bears 
a pink plum containing a pleasant acid juice, resembles an 
orange-tree in its dark evergreen foliage, and a cypress in its 
form. It was now winter-time, and we saw nothing of the flora. 



ELEPHANTS.— NEW SPECIES OF ANTELOPE. §5 

The plants and bushes were dry ; but wild indigo abounded, as 
indeed it does over large tracts of Africa. It is called mohetolo, 
or the " changer," by the boys, who dye their ornaments of straw 
with the juice. There are two kinds of cotton in the country, 
and the Mashona, who convert it into cloth, dye it blue with this 
plant. 

We found the elephants in prodigious numbers on the south- 
ern bank. They come to drink by night, and after having slaked 
their thirst — in doing which they throw large quantities of water 
over themselves, and are heard, while enjoying the refreshment, 
screaming with delight — they evince their horror of pitfalls by 
setting off in a straight line to the desert, and never diverge till 
they are eight or ten miles off. They are smaller here than in 
the countries farther south. At the Limpopo, for instance, they 
are upward of twelve feet high ; here, only eleven : farther north 
we shall find them nine feet only. The koodoo, or tolo, seemed 
smaller, too, than those we had been accustomed to see. We saw 
specimens of the kuabaoba, or straight-horned rhinoceros {H. Os- 
wellii), which is a variety of the white [M. simus) ; and we found 
that, from the horn being projected downward, it did not obstruct 
the line of vision, so that this species is able to be much more 
wary than its neighbors. 

We discovered an entirely new species of antelope, called leche 
or lechwi. It is a beautiful water-antelope of a light brownish- 
yellow color. Its horns — exactly like those of the Aigoceros 
ellipsiprionnus, the water-buck, or tumogo, of the Bechuanas — 
rise from the head with a slight bend backward, then curve for- 
ward at the points. The chest, belly, and orbits are nearly 
white, the front of the legs and ankles deep brown. From the 
horns, along the nape to the withers, the male has a small mane 
of the same yellowish color with the rest of the skin, and the 
tail has a tuft of black hair. It is never found a mile from wa- 
ter ; islets in marshes and rivers are its favorite haunts, and it is 
quite unknown except in the central humid basin of Africa. 
Having a good deal of curiosity, it presents a noble appearance 
as it stands gazing, with head erect, at the approaching stranger. 
When it resolves to decamp, it lowers its head, and lays its horns 
down to a level with the withers ; it then begins with a waddling 
trot, which ends in its galloping and springing over bushes like the 



86 FISH IN THE ZOUGA. 

pallahs. It invariably runs to the water, and crosses it by a suc- 
cession of bounds, each of which appears to be from the bottom. 
We thought the flesh good at first, but soon got tired of it. 

Great shoals of excellent fish come down annually with the ac- 
cess of waters. The mullet {Mugil Africanus) is the most abund- 
ant. They are caught in nets. 

The Glanis siluris, a large, broad-headed fish, without scales, 
and barbed — called by the natives " mosala" — attains an enor- 
mous size and fatness. They are caught so large that when a 
man carries one over his shoulder the tail reaches the ground. 
It is a vegetable feeder, and in many of its habits resembles the 
eel. Like most lophoid fishes, it has the power of retaining a 
large quantity of water in a part of its great head, so that it can 
leave the river, and even be buried in the mud of dried-up pools, 
without being destroyed. Another fish closely resembling this, 
and named Clarias capensis by Dr. Smith, is widely diffused 
throughout the interior, and often leaves the rivers for the sake 
of feeding in pools. As these dry up, large numbers of them 
are entrapped by the people. A water-snake, yellow-spotted and 
dark brown, is often seen swimming along with its head above 
the water : it is quite harmless, and is relished as food by the 
Bayeiye. 

They mention ten kinds of fish in their river ; and, in their 
songs of praise to the Zouga, say, " The messenger sent in haste 
Is always forced to spend the night on the way by the abundance 
of food you place before him." The Bayeiye live much on fish, 
which is quite an abomination to the Bechuanas of the south ; 
and they catch them in large numbers by means of nets made 
of the fine, strong fibres of the hibiscus, which grows abundantly 
in all moist places. Their float-ropes are made of the ife, or, 
as it is now called, the Sanseviere Angolensis, a flag -looking 
plant, having a very strong fibre, that abounds fi'om Kolobeng 
to Angola ; and the floats themselves are pieces of a water-plant 
containing valves at each joint, which retain the air in cells about 
an inch long. The mode of knotting the nets is identical with 
our own. 

They also spear the fish with javelins having a light handle, 
which readily floats on the surface. They show great dexterity 
in harpooning the hippopotamus ; and, the barbed blade of the 



FISHING-CANOES. 87 

spear being attached to a rope made of the young leaves of the 
palmyra, the animal can not rid himself of the canoe, attached to 
him in whale fashion, except Iby smashing it, which he not unfre- 
quently does by his teeth or by a stroke of his hind foot. 

On returning to the Bakurutse, we found that their canoes for 
fishing were simply large bundles of reeds tied together. Such a 
canoe would be a ready extemporaneous pontoon for crossing any 
river that had reedy banks. 



88 START FOR THE COUNTRY OF SEBITUANE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Leave Kolobeng again for the Country of Sebituane. — Reach the Zouga. — The 
Tsetse. — A Party of Englishmen. — Death of Mr. Rider. — Obtain Guides. — Chil- 
dren fall sick with Fever. — Relinquish the Attempt to reach Sebituane. — Mr. 
Oswell's Elephant-hunting. — Return to Kolobeng. — Make a third Start thence. 
— Reach Nchokotsa. — Salt-pans. — "Links," or Springs. — Bushmen. — Our Guide 
Shobo. — The Banajoa. — An ugly Chief. — The Tsetse. — Bite fatal to domestic 
Animals, but harmless to wild Animals and Man. — Operation of the Poison. — 
Losses caused by it. — The Makololo. — Our Meeting with Sebituane. — Sketch of 
his Career. — His Courage and Conquests. — Manoeuvres of the Batoka. — He out- 
wits them. — His Wars with the Matebele. — Predictions of a native Prophet. — 
Successes of the Makololo. — Renewed Attacks of the Matebele. — The Island of 
Loyelo. — Defeat of the Matebele. — Sebituane's Policy. — His Kindness to Stran- 
gers and to the Poor. — His sudden Illness and Death. — Succeeded by his Daugh- 
ter. — Her Friendliness to us. — Discovery, in June, 1851, of the Zambesi flowing 
in the Centre of the Continent. — Its Size. — The Mambari. — The Slave-trade. — 
Determine to send Family to England. — Return to the Cape in April, 1852. — 
Safe Transit through the CafFre Country during Hostilities. — Need of a "Spe- 
cial Correspondent." — Kindness of the London Missionary Society, — Assistance 
afforded by the Astronomer Royal at the Cape. 

Having returned to Kolobeng, I remained there till April, 
1850, and then left in company with Mrs. Livingstone, our three 
children, and the chief Sechele — who had now bought a wagon 
of his own — in order to go across the Zouga at its lower end, 
with the intention of proceeding up the northern bank till we 
gained the Tamunak'le, and of then ascending that river to visit 
Sebituane in the north. Sekomi had given orders to fill up the 
wells which we had dug with so much labor at Serotli, so we 
took the more eastern route through the Bamangwato town and 
by Letloche. That chief asked why I had avoided him in our 
former journeys. I replied that my reason was that I knew he 
did not wish me to go to the lake, and I did not want to quarrel 
with him. "Well," he said, "you beat me then, and I am 
content." 

Parting with Sechele at the ford, as he was eager to visit 
Lechulatebe, we went along the northern woody bank of the 



GUIDES OBTAINED FROM LECHULATEBE. 89 

Zouga with great labor, having to cut down very many trees to 
allow the wagons to pass. Our losses by oxen falling into pit- 
falls were very heavy. The Bayeiye kindly opened the pits 
when they knew of our approach ; but when that was not the 
case, we could blame no one on finding an established custom of 
the country inimical to our interests. On approaching the conflu- 
ence of the Tamunak'le we were informed that the fly called tse- 
tse* abounded on its banks. This was a barrier we never expect- 
ed to meet ; and, as it might have brought our wagons to a com- 
plete stand-still in a wilderness, where no supplies for the children 
could be obtained, we were reluctantly compelled to recross the 
Zouga. 

From the Bayeiye we learned that a party of Englishmen, who 
had come to the lake in search of ivory, were all laid low by fever, 
so we traveled hastily down about sixty miles to render what aid 
was in our power. We were grieved to find, as we came near, 
that Mr. Alfred Rider, an enterprising young artist who had come 
to make sketches of this country and of the lake immediately after 
its discovery, had died of fever before our arrival ; but by the aid 
of medicines and such comforts as could be made by the only En- 
glish lady who ever visited the lake, the others happily recovered. 
The unfinished drawing of Lake Ngami was made by Mr. Rider 
just before his death, and has been kindly lent for this work by 
his bereaved mother. 

Sechele used all his powers of eloquence with Lechulatebe to 
induce him to furnish guides that I might be able to visit Sebi- 
tuane on ox-back, while Mrs. Livingstone and the children re- 
mained at Lake Ngami. He yielded at last. I had a very 
superior London-made gun, the gift of Lieutenant Arkwright, on 
which I placed the greatest value, both on account of the donor 
and the impossibility of my replacing it. Lechulatebe fell vi- 
olently in love with it, and offered whatever number of elephants' 
. tusks I might ask for it. I too was enamored with Sebituane ; 
and as he promised in addition that he would furnish Mrs. Liv- 
ingstone with meat all the time of my absence, his arguments 
made me part with the gun. Though he had no ivory at the time 
to pay me, I felt the piece would be well spent on those terms, and 

* Glossina morsitans, the first specimens of which were brought to England in 
1848 by my friend Major Vardon, from the banks of the Limpopo. 



90 ME. OSWELL'S HUNTING. 

delivered it to him. All being ready for our departure, I took 
Mrs. Livingstone about six miles from the town, that she might 
have a peep at the broad part of the lake. Next morning we 
had other work to do than part, for our little boy and girl were 
seized with fever. On the day following, all our servants were 
down too with the same complaint. As nothing is better in 
these cases than change of place, I was forced to give up the 
hbpe of seeing Sebituane that year ; so, leaving my gun as part 
payment for guides next year, we started for the pure air of the 
Desert. 

Some mistake had happened in the arrangement with Mr. Os- 
well, for we met him on the Zouga on our return, and he de- 
voted the rest of this season to elephant-hunting, at which the na- 
tives universally declare he is the greatest adept that ever came . 
into the country. He hunted without dogs. It is remarkable 
that this lordly animal is so completely harassed by the presence 
of a few yelping curs as to be quite incapable of attending to 
man. He makes awkward attempts to crush them by falling on 
his knees ; and sometimes places his forehead against a tree ten 
inches in diameter ; glancing on one side of the tree and then on 
the other, he pushes it down before him, as if he thought thereby 
to catch his enemies. The only danger the huntsman has to ap- 
prehend is the dogs running toward him, and thereby leading the 
elephant to their master. Mr. Oswell has been known to kill 
four large old male elephants a day. The value of the ivory in 
these cases would be one hundred guineas. We had reason to be 
proud of his success, for the inhabitants conceived from it a very 
high idea of English courage ; and when they wished to flatter me 
would say, " If you were not a missionary you would just be 
like Oswell ; you would not hunt with dogs either." When, in 
1852, we came to tHe Cape, my black coat eleven years out of 
fashion, and without a penny of salary to draw, we found that Mr. 
Oswell had most generously ordered an outfit for the half-naked 
children, which cost about £200, and presented it to us, saying he 
thought Mrs. Livingstone had a right to the game of her own pre- 
serves. 

Foiled in this second attempt to reach Sebituane, we returned 
again to Kolobeng, whither we were soon followed by a number 
of messengers from that chief himself. When he heard of our 



NCHOKOTSA.— SALT-PANS. 91 

attempts to visit him, lie dispatched three detachments of his men 
with thirteen brown cows to Lechulatebe, thirteen white cows to 
Sekomi, and thirteen black cows to Sechele, with a request to each 
to assist the white men to reach him. Their policy, however, 
was to keep him out of view, and act as his agents in purchasing 
with his ivory the goods he wanted. This is thoroughly African ; 
and that continent being without friths and arms of the sea, the 
tribes in the centre have always been debarred from European in- 
tercourse by its universal prevalence among all the people around 
the coasts. 

Before setting out on our third journey to Sebituane, it was 
necessary to visit Kuruman ; and Sechele, eager, for the sake of 
the commission thereon, to get the ivory of that chief into his 
own hands, allowed all the messengers to leave before our re- 
turn. Sekomi, however, was more than usually gracious, and 
even furnished us with a guide, but no one knew the path beyond 
Nchokotsa which we intended to follow. When we reached that 
point, we found that the main spring of the gun of another of 
his men, who was well acquainted with the Bushmen, through 
whose country we should pass, had opportunely broken. I never 
undertook to mend a gun with greater zest than this ; for, under 
promise of his guidance, we went to the north instead of west- 
ward. All the other guides were most liberally rewarded by 
Mr. Oswell. 

We passed quickly over a hard country, which is perfectly flat. 
A little soil lying on calcareous tufa, over a tract of several 
hundreds of miles, supports a vegetation of fine sweet short grass, 
and mopane and baobab trees. On several parts of this we found 
large salt-pans, one of which, Ntwetwe, is fifteen miles broad and 
one hundred long. The latitude might have been taken on its 
horizon as well as upon the sea. 

Although these curious spots seem perfectly level, all those in 
this direction have a gentle slope to the northeast : thither the 
rain-water, which sometimes covers them, gently gravitates. This, 
it may be recollected, is the direction of the Zouga. The salt 
dissolved in the water has by this means all been transferred to 
one pan in that direction, named Chuantsa ; on it we see a cake 
of salt and lime an inch and a half thick. All the others have an 
efflorescence of lime and one of the nitrates only, and 'some are 



92 SPKINGS.— BUSHMEN. 

covered thickly with shells. These shells are identical with those 
of the moUusca of Lake Ngami and the Zouga. There are three 
varieties, spiral, univalve, and bivalve. 

In every salt-pan in the country there is a spring ot water on 
one side. I can rememlber no exception to this rule. The water 
of these springs is brackish, and contains the nitrate of soda. In 
one instance there are two springs, and one more saltish than the 
other. If this supply came from beds of rock salt the water 
would not be drinkable, as it generally is, and in some instances, 
where the salt contained in the pan in which these springs appear 
has been removed by human agency, no fresh deposit occurs. It 
is therefore probable that these deposits of salt are the remains 
of the very slightly brackish lakes of antiquity, large portions of 
which must have been dried out in the general desiccation. We 
see an instance in Lake Ngami, which, when low, becomes brack- 
ish, and this view seems supported by the fact that the largest 
quantities of salt have been found in the deepest hollows or low- 
est valleys, which have no outlet or outgoing gorge ; and a fount- 
ain, about thirty miles south of the Bamangwato — the temperature 
of which is upward of 100° — while strongly impregnated with 
pure salt, being on a flat part of the country, is accompanied by 
no deposit. 

When these deposits occur in a flat tufaceous country like the 
present, a large space is devoid of vegetation, on account of the 
nitrates dissolving the tufa, and keeping it in a state unfavorable 
to the growth of plants. 

We found a great number of wells in this tufa. A place called 
Matlomagan-yana, or the "Links," is quite a chain of these never- 
failing springs. As they occasionally become full in seasons 
when no rain falls, and resemble somewhat in this respect the 
rivers we have already mentioned, it is probable they receive 
some water by percolation from the river system in the country 
beyond. Among these links we found many families of Bush- 
men ; and, unlike those on the plains of the Kalahari, who are 
generally of short stature and light yellow color, these were tall, 
strapping fellows, of dark complexion. Heat alone does not pro- 
duce blackness of skin, but heat with moisture seems to insure 
the deepest hue. 

One of these Bushmen, named Shobo, consented to be our 



THE GUIDE SHOBO. 93 

guide over the waste between these springs and the country of 
Sebituane. Shobo gave us no hope of water in less than a 
month. Providentially, however, we came sooner than we ex- 
pected to some supplies of rain-water in a chain of pools. It 
is impossible to convey an idea of the dreary scene on which we 
entered after leaving this spot: the only vegetation was a low 
scrub in deep sand ; not a bird or insect enlivened the landscape. 
It was, without exception, the most uninviting prospect I ever 
beheld ; and, to make matters worse, our guide Shobo wandered 
on the second day. We coaxed him on at night, but he went to 
all points of the compass on the trails of elephants which had 
been here in the rainy season, and then would sit down in the 
path, and in his broken Sichuana say, "No water, all country 
only ; Shobo sleeps ; he breaks down ; country only ;" and then 
coolly curl himself up and go to sleep. The oxen were terri- 
bly fatigued and thirsty ; and on the morning of the fourth day, 
Shobo, after professing ignorance of every thing, vanished alto- 
gether. We went on in the direction in which we last saw him, 
and about eleven o'clock began to see birds ; then the trail of a 
rhinoceros. At this we unyoked the oxen, and they, apparently 
knowing the sign, rushed along to find the water in the River 
Mahabe, which comes from the Tamunak'le, and lay to the west 
of us. The supply of water in the wagons had been wasted by 
one of our servants, and by the afternoon only a small portion 
remained for the children. This was a bitterly anxious night ; 
and next morning the less there was of water, the more thirsty 
the little rogues became. The idea of their perishing before our 
eyes was terrible. It would almost have been a relief to me to 
have been reproached with being the entire cause of the catas- 
trophe ; but not one syllable of upbraiding was u.ttered by their 
mother, though the tearful eye told the agony within. In the 
afternoon of the fifth day, to our inexpressible relief, some of the 
men returned with a supply of that fluid of which we had never 
before felt the true value. 

The cattle, in rushing along to the water in the Mahabe, prob- 
ably crossed a small patch of trees containing tsetse, an insect 
which was shortly to become a perfect pest to us. Shobo had 
found his way to the Bayeiye, and appeared, when we came up 
to the river, at the head of a party ; and, as he wished to show 



94 THE BANAJOA.— THE TSETSE. 

his importance before his friends, he walked up boldly and com- 
manded our whole cavalcade to stop, and to bring forth fire and 
tobacco, while he coolly sat down and smoked his pipe. It was 
such an inimitably natural way of showing off, that we all stopped 
to admire the acting, and, though he had left us previously in the 
lurch, we all liked Shobo, a fine specimen of that wonderful peo- 
ple, the Bushmen. 

Next day we came to a village of Banajoa, a tribe which 
extends far to the eastward. They were living on the borders 
of a marsh in which the Mahabe terminates. They had lost their 
crop of corn {Holcus sorghum), and now subsisted almost entire- 
ly on the root called " tsitla," a kind of aroidoea, which contains a 
very large quantity of sweet-tasted starch. When dried, pound- 
ed into meal, and allowed to ferment, it forms a not unpleasant 
article of food. The women shave all the hair off their heads, 
and seem darker than the Bechuanas. Their huts were built 
on poles, and a fire is made beneath by night, in order that the 
smoke may drive away the musquitoes, which abound on the 
Mababe and Tamunak'le more than in any other part of the 
country. The head man of this village, Majane, seemed a little 
wanting in ability, but had had wit enough to promote a younger 
member of the family to the office. This person, the most like 
the ugly negro of the tobacconists' shops I ever saw, was called 
Moroa Majane, or son of Majane, and proved an active guide 
across the River Sonta, and to the banks of the Chobe, in the 
country of Sebituane. We had come through another tsetse dis- 
trict by night, and at once passed our cattle over to the northern 
bank to preserve them from its ravages. 

A few remarks on the Tsetse, or Glossina morsitans, may here 
be appropriate. It is not much larger than the common house- 
fly, and is nearly of the same brown color as the common honey- 
bee ; the after part of the body has three or four yellow bars 
across it ; the wings project beyond this part considerably, and 
it is remarkably alert, avoiding most dexterously all attempts 
to capture it with the hand at common temperatures ; in the 
cool of .the mornings and evenings it is less agile. Its peculiar 
buzz when once heard can never be forgotten by the traveler 
whose means of locomotion are domestic animals ; for it is well 
known that the bite of this poisonous insect is certain death to 



OPERATION OF TSETSE POISON. 95 

the OX, horse, and dog. In this journey, though we were not 
aware of any great number having at any time lighted on our 
cattle, we lost forty-three fine oxen by its bite. We watched the 
animals carefully, and believe that not a score of flies were ever 
upon them. 

A most remarkable feature in the bite of the tsetse is its 
perfect harmlessness in man and wild animals, and even calves, 
so long as they continue to suck the cows. We never experienced 
the slightest injury from them ourselves, personally, although we 
lived two months in their habitat, which was in this case as 
sharply defined as in many others, for the south bank of the 
Chobe was infested by them, and the northern bank, where our 
cattle were placed, only fifty yards distant, contained not a single 
specimen. This was the more remarkable, as we often saw na- 
tives carrying over raw meat to the opposite bank with many 
tsetse settled upon it. 

The poison does not seem to be injected by a sting, or by ova 
placed beneath the skin ; for, when one is allowed to feed freely on 
the hand, it is seen to insert the middle prong of three portions, 
into which the proboscis divides, somewhat deeply into the true 
skin ; it then draws it out a little way, and it assumes a crimson 
color as the mandibles come into brisk operation. The previ- 
ously shrunken belly swells out, and, if left undisturbed, the fly 
quietly departs when it is full. A slight itching irritation fol- 
lows, but not more than in the bite of a musquito. In the ox this 
same bite produces no more immediate efiects than in man. It 
does not startle him as the gad-fly does ; but a few days after- 
ward the following symptoms supervene : the eye and nose begin 
to run, the coat stares as if the animal were cold, a swelling ap- 
pears under the jaw, and sometimes at the navel ; and, though 
the animal continues to graze, emaciation commences, accom- 
panied with a peculiar flaccidity of the muscles, and this proceeds 
unchecked until, perhaps months afterward, purging comes on, 
and the animal, no longer able to graze, perishes in a state of 
extreme exhaustion. Those which are in good condition often 
perish soon after the bite is inflicted with staggering and blind- 
ness, as if the brain were aflccted by it. Sudden changes of 
temperature produced by falls of rain seem to hasten the progress 
of the complaint ; but, in general, the emaciation goes on unin- 



96 THE TSETSE POISON. 

terruptedly for months, and, do what we will, the poor animals 
perish miserably. 

When opened, the cellular tissue on the surface of the tody be- 
neath the skin is seen to be injected with air, as if a quantity of 
soap-bubbles were scattered over it, or a dishonest, awkward 
butcher had been trying to make it look fat. The fat is of a green- 
ish-yellow color and of an oily consistence. All the muscles are 
flabby, and the heart often so soft that the fingers may be made 
to meet through it. The lungs and liver partake of the disease. 
The stomach and bowels are pale and empty, and the gall-bladder 
is distended with bile. 

These symptoms seem to indicate what is probably the case, a 
poison in the blood, the germ of which enters when the proboscis 
is inserted to draw blood. The poison-germ, contained in a bulb 
at the root of the proboscis, seems capable, although very minute 
in quantity, of reproducing itself, for the blood after death by 
tsetse is very small in quantity, and scarcely stains the hands in 
dissection. I shall have by-and-by to mention another insect, 
which by the same operation produces in the human subject both 
vomiting and purging. 

The mule, ass, and goat enjoy the same immunity from the 
tsetse as man and the game. Many large tribes on the Zambesi 
can keep no domestic animals except the goat, in consequence 
of the scourge existing in their country. Our children were 
frequently bitten, yet suffered no harm ; and we saw around us 
numbers of zebras, buffaloes, pigs, pallahs and other antelopes, 
feeding quietly in the very habitat of the tsetse, yet as undis- 
turbed by its bite as oxen are when they first receive the fatal 
poison. There is not so much difference in the natures of the 
horse and zebra, the buffalo and ox, the sheep and antelope, as to 
afford any satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon. Is a man 
not as much a domestic animal as a dog? The curious feature 
in the case, that dogs perish though fed on milk, whereas 
the calves escape so long as they continue sucking, made us 
imagine that the mischief might be produced by some plant in the 
locality, and not by tsetse ; bu.t Major Vardon, of the Madras 
Army, settled that point by riding a horse up to a small hill 
infested by the insect without allowing him time to graze, and, 
though he only remained long enough to take a view of the 



MEETING WITH SEBITUANE. 97 

country and catcli some specimens of tsetse on the animal, in ten 
days afterward the horse was dead. 

The well-known disgust which the tsetse shows to animal ex- 
creta, as exhibited when a village is placed in its habitat, has been 
observed and turned to account by some of the doctors. They 
mix droppings of animals, human milk, and some medicines to- 
gether, and smear the animals that are about to pass through a 
tsetse district ; but this, though it proves a preventive at the time, 
is not permanent. There is no cure yet known for the disease. 
A careless herdsman allowing a large number of cattle to wander 
into a tsetse district loses all except the calves ; and Sebituane 
once lost nearly the entire cattle of his tribe, very many thou- 
sands, by unwittingly coming under its influence. Inoculation 
does not insure immunity, as animals which have been slightly 
bitten in one year may perish by a greater number of bites in the 
next ; but it is probable that with the increase of guns the game 
will perish, as has happened in the south, and the tsetse, deprived 
of food, may become extinct simultaneously with the larger ani- 
mals. 

The Makololo whom we met on the Chobe were delighted to 
see us ; and as their chief Sebituane was about twenty miles down 
the river, Mr. Oswell and I proceeded in canoes to his temporary 
residence. He had come from the Barotse town of Naliele down 
to Sesheke as soon as he heard of white men being in search of 
him, and now came one hundred miles more to bid ns welcome 
into his country. He was upon an island, with all his principal 
men around him, and engaged in singing when we arrived. It 
was more like church music than the sing-song e e e, £e a) as, of 
the Bechuanas of the south, and they continued the tune for some 
seconds after we approached. We informed him of the difficulties 
we had encountered, and how glad we were that they were all at 
an end by at last reaching his presence. He signified his own 
joy, and added, "Your cattle are all bitten by the tsetse, and will 
certainly die ; but never mind, I have oxeii, and will give you as 
many as you need." We, in our ignorance, then thought that as 
so few tsetse had bitten them no great mischief would follow. , He 
then presented us with an ox and a jar of honey as food, and 
handed us over to the care of Mahale, who had headed the party 
to Kolobeng, and would now fain appropriate to himself the whole 

G 



98 CAKEEE OF SEBITUANE. 

credit of our coming. Prepared skins of oxen, as soft as cloth, 
were given to cover us through the night ; and, as nothing could 
be returned to this chief, Mahale became the owner of them. Long 
before it was day Sebituane came, and sitting down by the iire, 
which was lighted for our benefit behind the hedge where we lay, 
he narrated the difficulties he had himself experienced, when a 
young man, in crossing that same desert which we had mastered 
long afterward. As he has been most remarkable in his career, 
and was unquestionably the greatest man in all that country, a 
short sketch of his life may prove interesting to the reader. 

Sebituane was about forty-five years of age ; of a tall and wiry 
form, an olive or coffee -and -milk color, and slightly bald; in 
manner cool and collected, and more frank in his answers than 
any other chief I ever met. He was the greatest warrior ever 
heard of beyond the colony ; for, unlike Mosilikatse, Dingaan, and 
others, he always led his men into battle himself. When he saw 
the enemy, he felt the edge of his battle-axe, and said, "Aha! it 
is sharp, and whoever turns his back on the enemy will feel its 
edge." So fleet of foot was he, that all his people knew there 
was no escape for the coward, as any such would be cut down 
without mercy. In some instances of skulking he allowed the in- 
dividual to return home ; then calling him, he would say, " Ah ! 
you prefer dying at home to dying in the field, do you? You 
shall have your desire." This was the signal for his immediate 
execution. 

He came from the country near the sources of the Likwa and 
Namagari rivers in the south, so we met him eight hundred or 
nine hundred miles from his birth-place. He was not the son of 
a chief, though related closely to the reigning family of the Ba- 
siitu ; and when, in an attack by Sikonyele, the tribe was driven 
out of one part, Sebituane was one in that immense horde of 
savages driven back by the Griquas from Kuruman in 1824.* 
He then fled to the north with an insignificant party of men and 
cattle. At Melita the Bangwaketse collected the Bakwains, 
Bakatla, and Bahurutse, to "eat them up." Placing his men in 
front, and the women behind the cattle, he routed the whole of 
his enemies at one blow. Having thus conquered Makabe, the 

* See an account of this affair in Moffat's "Missionary Enterprise in Africa." 



CAEEER OF SEBITUANE. 99 

chief of the Bangwaketse, he took immediate possession of his 
town and all his goods. 

Sebituane subsequently settled at the place called Litubamba, 
where Sechele now dwells, and his people suffered severely in one 
of those unrecorded attacks by white men, in which murder is 
committed and materials laid up in the conscience for a future 
judgment. 

A great variety of fortune followed him in the northern part of 
the Bechuana country ; twice he lost all his cattle by the attacks 
of the Matabele, but always kept his people together, and retook 
more than he lost. He then crossed the Desert by nearly the 
same path that we did. He had captured a guide, and, as it 
was necessary to travel by night in order to reach water, the 
guide took advantage of this and gave him the slip. After 
marching till morning, and going as ihej thought right, they 
found themselves on the trail of the day before. Many of his 
cattle burst away from him in the phrensy of thirst, and rushed 
back to Serotli, then a large piece of water, and to Mashiie and 
Lopepe, the habitations of their original owners. He stocked him- 
self again among the Batletli, on Lake Kumadau, whose herds were 
of the large-horned species of cattle.* Conquering all around the 
lake, he heard of white men living at the west coast ; and, haunt- 
ed by what seems to have been the dream of his whole life, a de- 
sire to have intercourse with the white man, he passed away to the 
southwest, into the parts opened up lately by Messrs. Galton and 
Andersson. There, suffering intensely from thirst, he and his 
party came to a small well. He decided that the men, not the 
cattle, should drink it, the former being of most value, as they 
could fight for more should these be lost. In the morning they 
found the cattle had escaped to the Damaras. 

Returning to the north poorer than he started, he ascended the 
Teoughe to the hill Sorila, and crossed over a swampy country 
to the eastward. Pursuing his course onward to the low-lying 
basin of the Leeambye, he saw that it presented no attraction to 



* We found the Batauana in possession of this breed when we discovered Lake 
Ngami. One of these horns, brought to England by Major Vardon, will hold 
no less than twent3'-one imperial pints of water ; and a pair, brought by Mr. Os- 
well, and now in the possession of Colonel Steele, measures from tip to tip eight 
and a half feet. 



100 CAEEEE OF SEBITUANE. 

a pastoral tribe like liis, so he moved down that river among the 
Bashubia and Batoka, who were then living in all their glory. 
His narrative resembled closely the " Commentaries of C^sar," 
and the history of the British in India. He was always forced to 
attack the different tribes, and to this day his men justify every 
step he took as perfectly just and right. The Batoka lived on 
large islands in the Leeambye or Zambesi, and, feeling perfect- 
ly secure in their fastnesses, often allured fugitive or wandering 
tribes on to uninhabited islets on pretense of ferrying them across, 
and there left them to perish for the sake of their goods. Sek- 
omi, the chief of the Bamangwato, was, when a child, in danger of 
meeting this fate ; but a man still living had compassion on him, 
and enabled his mother to escape with him by night. The river 
is so large that the sharpest eye can not tell the difference between 
an island and the bend of the opposite bank ; but Sebituane, with 
his usual foresight, requested the island chief who ferried him 
across to take his seat in the canoe with him, and detained him 
by his side till all his people and cattle were safely landed. The 
whole Batoka country was then densely peopled, and they had a 
curious taste for ornamenting their villages with the skulls of 
strangers. When Sebituane appeared near the great falls, an im- 
mense army collected to make trophies of the Makololo skulls ; 
but, instead of succeeding in this, they gave him a good excuse for 
conquering them, and capturing so many cattle that his people 
were quite incapable of taking any note of the sheep and goats. 
He overran all the high lands toward the Kafde, and settled in 
what is called a pastoral country, of gently undulating plains, cov- 
ered with short grass and but little forest. The Makololo have 
never lost their love for this fine, healthy region. 

But the Matebele, a Caffre or Zulu tribe, under Mosilikatse, 
crossed the Zambesi, and, attacking Sebituane in this choice spot, 
captured his cattle and women. Rallying his men, he followed 
and recaptured the whole. A fresh attack was also repulsed, and 
Sebituane thought of going farther down the Zambesi, to the 
country of the white men. He had an idea, whence imbibed I 
never could learn, that if he had a cannon he might live in peace. 
He had led a life of war, yet no one apparently desired peace 
more than he did. A prophet induced him to turn his face again 
to the westward. This man, by name Tlapane, was called a 



A NATIVE PROPHET, lOJ 

" senoga" — one who holds intercourse with the gods. He proba- 
bly had a touch of insanity, for he was in the habit of retiring no 
one knew whither, but perhaps into some cave, to remain in a 
hypnotic or mesmeric state until the moon was full. Then, re- 
turning to the tribe quite emaciated, he excited himself, as others 
do who pretend to the prophetic afflatus, until he was in a state 
of ecstasy. These pretended prophets commence their dperations 
by violent action of the voluntary muscles. Stamping, leaping, 
and shouting in a peculiarly violent manner, or beating the ground 
with a club, they induce a kind of fit, and while in it pretend that 
their utterances are unknown to themselves. Tlapane, pointing 
eastward, said, " There, Sebituane, I behold a fire : shun it ; it is 
a fire which may scorch thee. The gods say, go not thither." 
Then, turning to the west, he said, " I see a city and a nation of 
black men — men of the water; their cattle are red; thine own 
tribe, Sebituane, is perishing, and will be all consumed ; thou wilt 
govern black men, and, when thy warriors have captured red cat- 
tle, let not the owners be killed ; they are thy future tribe — they 
are thy city; let them be spared to cause thee to build. And 
thou, Eamosinii, thy village will perish utterly. If Mokari re- 
moves from that village he will perish first, and thou, Ramosinii, 
wilt be the last to die." Concerning himself he added, " The 
gods have caused other men to drink water, but to me they have 
given bitter water of the chukuru (rhinoceros). They call me 
away myself. I can not stay much longer." 

This vaticination, which loses much in the translation, I have 
given rather fully, as it shows an observant mind. The policy 
recommended was wise, and the deaths of the " senoga" and of 
the two men he had named, added to the destruction of their vil- 
lage, having all happened soon after, it is not wonderful that Se- 
bituane followed implicitly the warning voice. The fire pointed 
to was evidently the Portuguese fire-arras, of which he must have 
heard. The black men referred to were the Barotse, or, as they 
term themselves, Baloiana; and Sebituane spared their chiefs, even 
though they attacked him first. He had ascended the Barotse 
valley, but was pursued by the Matebele, as Mosilikatse never 
could forgive his former defeats. They came up the river in a very 
large body. Sebituane placed some goats on one of the large isl- 
ands of the Zambesi as a bait to the warriors, and some men in 



102 CAEEEE OF SEBITUANE. 

canoes to co-operate in the manceiivre. When thej were all fer- 
ried over to the island, the canoes were removed, and the Matebele 
found themselves completely in a trap, teing perfectly unable to 
swim. They subsisted for some time on the roots of grass after 
the goats were eaten, but gradually became so emaciated that, 
when the Makololo landed, they had only to perform the part of 
executioners on the adults, and to adopt the rest into their own 
tribe. Afterward Mosilikatse was goaded on by his warriors to 
revenge this loss ; so he sent an immense army, carrying canoes 
with them, in order that no such mishap might occur again. Se- 
bituane had by this time incorporated the Barotse, and taught his 
young men to manage canoes ; so he went from island to island, 
and watched the Matebele on the main land so closely that they 
could not use their canoes to cross the river any where without part- 
ing their forces. At last all the Makololo and their cattle were 
collected on the island of Loyelo, and lay all around, keeping watch 
night and day over the enemy. After some time spent in this way, 
Sebituane went in a canoe toward them, and, addressing them by 
an interpreter, asked why they wished to kill him ; he had never 
attacked them, never harmed their chief: "Au!" he continued, 
"the guilt is on your side." The Matebele made no reply; but 
the Makololo next day saw the canoes they had carried so far ly- 
ing smashed, and the owners gone. They returned toward their 
own country, and fever, famine, and the Batoka completed their 
destruction ; only five men returned to Mosilikatse. 

Sebituane had now not only conquered all the black tribes over 
an immense tract of country, but had made himself dreaded even 
by the terrible Mosilikatse. He never could trust this ferocious 
chief, however ; and, as the Batoka on the islands had been guilty 
of ferrying his enemies across the Zambesi, he made a rapid de- 
scent upon them, and swept them all out of their island fastnesses. 
He thus unwittingly performed a good service to the country by 
completely breaking down the old system which prevented trade 
from penetrating into the great central valley. Of the chiefs who 
escaped, he said, "They love Mosilikatse, let them live with him: 
the Zambesi is my line of defense;" and men were placed all 
along it as sentinels. When he heard of our wish to visit him, 
he did all he could to assist our approach. Sechele, Sekomi, 
and Lechulatebe owed their lives to his clemency; and the latter 



HIS CHAEACTER. 103 

might liave paid dearly for his obstructiveness. Sebituane knew 
every thing that happened in the country, for he had the art of 
gaining the affections both of his own people and of strangers. 
When a party of poor men came to his town to sell their hoes or 
skins, no matter how ungainly they might be, he soon knew them 
all. A company of these indigent strangers, sitting far apart from 
the Makololo gentlemen around the chief, would be surprised to 
see him come alone to them, and, sitting down, inquire if they 
were hungry. He would order an attendant to bring meal, milk, 
and honey, and, mixing them in their sight, in order to remove 
any suspicion from their minds, make them feast, perhaps for the 
first time in their lives, on a lordly dish. Delighted beyond meas- 
ure with his affability and liberality, they felt their hearts warm 
toward him, and gave him all the information in their power ; and 
as he never allowed a party of strangers to go away without giv- 
ing every one of them, servants and all, a present, his praises were 
sounded far and wide. " He has a heart ! he is wise !" were the 
usual expressions we heard before we saw him. 

He was much pleased with the proof of confidence we had 
shown in bringing our children, and promised to take us to see his 
country, so that we might choose a part in which to locate our- 
selves. Our plan was, that I should remain in the pursuit of my 
objects as a missionary, while Mr. Oswell explored the Zambesi to 
the east. Poor Sebituane, however, just after realizing what he 
had so long ardently desired, fell sick of inflammation of the lungs, 
which originated in and extended from an old wound got at Meli- 
ta. I saw his danger, but, being a stranger, I feared to treat him 
medically, lest, in the event of his death, I should be blamed by 
his people. I mentioned this to one of his doctors, who said, 
"Your fear is prudent and wise ; this people would blame you." 
He had been cured of this complaint, during the year before, by 
the Barotse making a large number of free incisions in the chest. 
The Makololo doctors, on the other hand, now scarcely cut the 
skin. On the Sunday afternoon in which he died, when our usual 
religious service was over, I visited him with my little boy Robert. 
" Come near," said Sebituane, " and see if I am any longer a man. 
I am done." He was thus sensible of the dangerous nature of 
his disease, so I ventured to assent, and added a single sentence 
regarding hope after death. " Why do you speak of death ?" said 



104 DEATH OF SEBITUANE. 

one of a relay of fresh doctors ; " Selbituane will never die." If 
I had persisted, the impression would have been produced that by 
speaking about it I wished him to die. After sitting with him 
some time, and commending him to the mercy of God, I rose to 
depart, when the dying chieftain, raising himself up a little from 
his prone position, called a servant, and said, " Take Robert to 
Maunku (one of his wives), and tell her to give him some milk." 
These were the last words of Sebituane. 

We were not informed of his death until the next day. The 
burial of a Bechuana chief takes place in his cattle-pen, and all 
the cattle are driven for an hour or two around and over the grave, 
so that it may be quite obliterated. We went and spoke to the 
people, advising them to keep together and support the heir. 
They took this kindly ; and in turn told us not to be alarmed, for 
they would not think of ascribing the death of their chief to us ; 
that Sebituane had just gone the way of his fathers ; and though 
the father had gone, he had left children, and they hoped that we 
would be as friendly to his children as we intended to have been 
to himself. 

He was decidedly the best specimen of a native chief I ever 
met. I never felt so much grieved by the loss of a black man be- 
fore ; and it was impossible not to follow him in thought into the 
world of which he had just heard before he was called away, and 
to realize somewhat of the feelings of those who pray for the dead. 
The deep, dark question of what is to become of such as he, must, 
however, be left where we find it, believing that, assuredly, the 
"Judge of all the earth will do right." 

At Sebituane's death the chieftainship devolved, as her father 
intended, on a daughter named Ma-mochisane. He had promised 
to show us his country and to select a suitable locality for our 
residence. We had now to look to the daughter, who was living 
twelve days to the north, at Naliele. We were obliged, therefore, 
to remain until a message came from her ; and when it did, she 
gave us perfect liberty to visit any part of the country we chose. 
Mr. Oswell and I then proceeded one hundred and thirty miles to 
the northeast, to Sesheke ; and in the end of June, 1851, we were 
rewarded by the discovery of the Zambesi, in the centre of the 
continent. This was a most important point, for that river was 
not previously known to exist there at all. The Portuguese maps 



DISCOVERY OF THE ZAMBESI. 105 

all represent it as rising far to the east of where we now were ; and 
if ever any thing like a chain of trading stations had existed across 
the country between the latitudes 12° and 18° south, this mag- 
nificent portion of the river must have heen known before. We 
saw it at the end of the dry season, at the time when the river is 
about at its lowest, and yet there was a breadth of from three 
hundred to six hundred yards of deep flowing water. Mr. Oswell 
said he had never seen such a fine river, even in India. At the 
period of its annual inundation it rises fully twenty feet in per- 
pendicular height, and floods fifteen or twenty miles of lands ad- 
jacent to its banks. 

The country over which we had traveled from the Chobe was 
perfectly flat, except where there were large ant-hills, or the 
remains of former ones, which had left mounds a few feet high. 
These are generally covered with wild date-trees and palmyras, 
and in some parts there are forests of mimosas and mopane. Oc- 
casionally the country between the Chobe and Zambesi is flooded, 
and there are large patches of swamps lying near the Chobe or on 
its banks. The Makololo were living among these swamps for 
the sake of the protection the deep reedy rivers afforded them 
against their enemies. 

Now, in reference to a suitable locality for a settlement for 
myself, I could not conscientiously ask them to abandon their 
defenses for my convenience alone. The healthy districts were 
defenseless, and the safe localities were so deleterious to human 
life, that the original Basutos had nearly all been cut off by the 
fever ; I therefore feared to subject my family to the scourge. 

As we were the very first white men the inhabitants had ever 
seen, we were visited by prodigious numbers. Among the first 
who came to see us was a gentleman who appeared in a gaudy 
dressing-gown of printed calico. Many of the Makololo, besides, 
had garments of blue, green, and red baize, and also of printed 
cottons ; on inquiry, we learned that these had been purchased, in 
exchange for boys, from a tribe called Mambari, which is situated 
near Bihe. This tribe began the slave-trade with Sebituane only 
in 1850, and but for the unwillingness of Lechulatebe to allow 
us to pass, we should have been with Sebituane in time to have 
prevented it from commencing at all. The Mambari visited in 
ancient times the chief of the Barotse, whom Sebituane con- 



106 THE SLAVE-TEADE. 

quered, and he refused to allow any one to sell a child. Thej 
never came hack again till 1850 ; and as they had a number 
of old Portuguese guns marked " Legitimo de Braga," which 
Selbituane thought would he excellent in any future invasion of 
Matebele, he offered to purchase them with cattle or ivory, but 
the Mambari refused every thing except boys about fourteen years, 
of age. The Makololo declare they never heard of people being 
bought and sold till then, and disliked it, but the desire to possess 
the guns prevailed, and eight old guns were exchanged for as 
many boys ; these were not their own children, but captives of the 
black races they had conquered. I have never known in Africa 
an instance of a parent selling his own offspring. The Makololo 
were afterward incited to make a foray against some tribes to the 
eastward ; the Mambari bargaining to use their guns in the attack 
for the captives they might take, and the Makololo were to have 
all the cattle. They went off with at least two hundred slaves 
that year. During this foray the Makololo met some Arabs from 
Zanzibar, who presented them with three English muskets, and 
in return received about thirty of their captives. 

In talking with my companions over these matters, the idea 
was suggested that, if the slave-market were supplied with arti- 
cles of European manufacture by legitimate commerce, the trade 
in slaves would become impossible. It seemed more feasible to 
give the goods, for which the people now part with their servants, 
in exchange for ivory and other products of the country, and 
thus prevent the trade at the beginning, than to try to put a stop 
to it at any of the subsequent steps. This could only be effected 
by establishing a highway from the coast into the centre of the 
country. 

As there was no hope of the Boers allowing the peaceable in- 
struction of the natives at Kolobeng, I at once resolved to save 
my family from exposure to this unhealthy region by sending 
them to England, and to return alone, with a view to exploring 
the country in search of a healthy district that might prove a 
centre of civilization, and open up the interior by a path to either 
the east or west coast. This resolution led me down to the Cape 
in April, 1852, being the first time during eleven years that I had 
visited the scenes of civilization. Our route to Cape Town led 
us to pass through the centre of the colony during the twentieth 



EETUKN TO THE CAPE. 107 

month of a Caffre war ; and if those who periodically pay enor- 
mous sums for these inglorious affairs wish to know how our lit- 
tle unprotected party could quietly travel through the heart of 
the colony to the capital with as little sense or sign of danger as 
if we had been in England, they must engage a '■'■Times Special 
Correspondent" for the next outbreak to explain where the money 
goes, and who have been benefited by the blood and treasure ex- 
pended. 

Having placed my family on board a homeward-bound ship, and 
promised to rejoin them in two years, we parted, for, as it subse- 
quently proved, nearly five years. The Directors of the London 
Missionary Society signified their cordial approval of vaj project 
by leaving the matter entirely to my own discretion ; and I have 
much pleasure in acknowledging my obligations to the gentlemen 
composing that body for always acting in an enlightened spirit, 
and with as much liberality as their constitution would allow. 

I have the like pleasure in confessing my thankfulness to the 
Astronomer Royal at the Cape, Thomas Maclear, Esq., for ena- 
bling me to recall the little astronomical knowledge which constant 
manual labor and the engrossing nature of missionary duties had 
effaced from my memory, and in adding much that I did not know 
before. The promise he made on parting, that he would examine 
and correct all my observations, had more effect in making me 
persevere in overcoming the difficulties of an unassisted solitary 
observer than any thing else ; so whatever credit may be attached 
to the geographical positions laid down in my route must be at- 
tributed to the voluntary aid of the excellent and laborious astron- 
omer of the Cape observatory. 

Having given the reader as rapid a sketch as possible of events 
which attracted notice between 1840 and 1852, 1 now proceed to 
narrate the incidents of the last and longest journey of all, per- 
formed in 1852-6. 



108 THE LAST AND LONGEST JOURNEY. 



CHAPTER V. 

Start in June, 1852, on the last and longest Journey from Cape Town. — Compan- 
ions. — Wagon-traveling. — Physical Divisions of Africa. — The Eastern, Central, 
and Western Zones. — The Kalahari Desert. — Its Vegetation. — Increasing Value 
of the Interior for Colonization. — Our Route. — Dutch Boers. — Their Habits. — 
Sterile Appearance of the District. — Failure of Grass. — Succeeded by other 
Plants. — Vines. — ^Animals. — The Boers as Farmers. — Migration of Springbucks. 
— Wariness of Animals. — The Orange River. — Territory of the Griquas and 
Bechuanas. — The Griquas. — The Chief Waterboer. — His wise and energetic 
Government. — His Fidelity. — Ill-considered Measures of the Colonial Govern- 

• ment in regard to Supplies of Gunpowder. — Success of the Missionaries among 
the Griquas and Bechuanas. — Manifest Improvement of the native Character. — 
Dress of the Natives. — A full-dress Costume. — A Native's Description of the Na- 
tives. — Articles of Commerce in the Country of the Bechuanas. — Their Unwil- 
lingness to learn, and Readiness to criticise. 

Haying sent my family home to England, I started in the Tbe- 
ginning of June, 1852, on my last journey from Cape Town. This 
journey extended from the southern extremity of the continent to 
St. Paul de Loando, the capital of Angola, on the west coast, and 
thence across South Central Africa in an oblique direction to 
Kilimane (Quilimane) in Eastern Africa. I proceeded in the usu- 
al conveyance of the country, the heavy, lumbering Cape wagon 
drawn by ten oxen, and was accompanied by two Christian Bechu- 
anas from Kuruman — than whom I never saw better servants any 
where — by two Bakwain men, and two young girls, who, having 
come as nurses with our children to the Cape, were returning to 
their home at Kolobeng. Wagon-traveling in Africa has been so 
often described that I need say no more than that it is a prolong- 
ed system of picnicking, excellent for the health, and agreeable to 
those who are not over-fastidious about trifles, and wiio delight in 
being in the open air. 

Our route to the north lay near the centre of the cone-shaped 
mass of land which constitutes the promontory of the Cape. If 
we suppose this cone to be divided into three zones or longitudinal 
bands, we find each presenting distinct peculiarities of climate. 



NATUEAL DIVISIONS OF AFKICA. X09 

physical appearance and population. These are more marked 
beyond than within the colony. At some points one district 
seems to be continued in and to merge into the other, but the 
general dissimilarity warrants the division, as an aid to memory. 
The eastern zone is often furnished with mountains, well wooded 
with evergreen succulent trees, on which neither fire nor droughts 
can have the smallest effect [Strelitzia, Zamia horrida^ Portula- 
caria afra. Scholia speciosa, Euphorbias, dindi Aloes arborescens) : 
and its seaboard gorges are clad with gigantic timber. It is also 
comparatively well watered with streams and flowing rivers. The 
annual supply of rain is considerable, and the inhabitants (Caffres 
or Zulus) are tall, muscular, and well made ; they are shrewd, en- 
ergetic, and brave ; altogether they merit the character given them 
by military authorities, of being "magnificent savages." Their 
splendid physical development and form of skull show that, but 
for the black skin and woolly hair, they would take rank among 
the foremost Europeans. 

The next division, that which embraces the centre of the con- 
tinent, can scarcely be called hilly, for what hills there are are 
very low. It consists for the most part of extensive, slightly un- 
dulating plains. There are no lofty mountains, but few springs, 
and still fewer flowing streams. Eain is far from abundant, and 
droughts may be expected every few years. Without artificial 
irrigation no European grain can be raised, and the inhabitants 
(Bechuanas), though evidently of the same stock, originally, with 
those already mentioned, and closely resembling them in being an 
agricultural as well as a pastoral people, are a comparatively timid 
race, and inferior to the Caffres in physical development. 

The western division is still more level than the middle one, 
being rugged only near the coast. It includes the great plain 
called the Kalahari Desert, which is remarkable for little water 
and very considerable vegetation. 

The reason, probably, why so little rain falls on this extensive 
plain is that the prevailing winds of most of the interior country 
are easterly, with a little southing. The moisture taken up 
by the atmosphere from the Indian Ocean is deposited on the 
eastern hilly slope ; and when the moving mass of air reaches its 
greatest elevation, it is then on the verge of the great valley, or, 
as in the case of the Kalahari, the great heated inland plains ; 



V 



110 ABSENCE OE KAIN.— VEGETATION. 

there, meeting with the rarefied air of that hot, dry surface, the 
ascending heat gives it greater capacity for retaining all its re- 
maining humidity, and few showers can he given to the middle 
and western lands in consequence of the increased hygrometric 
power. 

This is the same phenomenon, on a gigantic gcale, as that 
which takes place on Table Mountain, at the Cape, in what is 
called the spreading of the " table-cloth." The southeast wind 
causes a mass of air, equal to the diameter of the mountain, sud- 
denly to ascend at least three thousand feet ; the dilatation pro- 
duced by altitude, with its attendant cold, causes the immediate 
formation of a cloud on the summit ; the water in the atmosphere 
becomes visible ; successive masses of gliding-up and passing-over 
air cause the continual formation of clouds, but the top of the 
vapory mass, or "table-cloth," is level, and seemingly motion- 
less ; on the lee side, however, the thick volumes of vapor curl 
over and descend, but when they reach the point below, where 
greater density and higher temperature impart enlarged capacity 
for carrying water, they entirely disappear. 

Now if, instead of a hollow on the lee side of Table Mountain, 
we had an elevated heated plain, the clouds which curl over that 
side, and disappear as they do at present when a " southeaster" 
is blowing, might deposit some moisture on the windward ascent 
and top ; but the heat would then impart the increased capacity 
the air now receives at the lower level in its descent to leeward, 
and, instead of an extended country with a flora of the Disa 
grandiflora^ gladiolus^ rushes, and lichens, which now appear on 
Table Mountain, we should have only the hardy vegetation of 
the Kalahari. 

Why there should be so much vegetation on the Kalahari may 
be explained by the geological formation of the country. There 
is a rim or fringe of ancient rocks round a great central valley, 
which, dipping inward, form a basin, the bottom of which is 
composed of the oldest silurian rocks. This basin has been 
burst through and filled up in many parts by eruptive traps 
and breccias, which often bear in their substances angular frag- 
ments of the more ancient rocks, as shown in the fossils they 
contain. Now, though large areas have been so dislocated that 
but little trace of the original valley formation appears, it is 



COLONIZATION OF INTERIOR DISTRICTS. HI 

highly probable that the basin shape prevails over large tracts of • 
tlie country ; and as the strata on the slopes, where most of the rain 
falls, dip in toward the centre, they probably guide water beneath 
the plains but ill supplied with moisture from the clouds. The 
phenomenon of stagnant fountains becoming by a new and deeper 
outlet never-failing streams may be confirmatory of the view that 
water is conveyed from the sides of the country into the bottom 
of the central valley ; and it is not beyond the bounds of possibil- 
ity that the wonderful river system in the north, which, if native 
information be correct, causes a considerable increase of water in 
the springs called Matlomagan-yana (the Links), extends its fer- 
tilizing influence beneath the plains of the Kalahari. 

The peculiar formation of the country may explain why there 
is such a difference in the vegetation between the 20th and 30th 
parallels of latitude in South Africa and the same latitudes in Cen- 
tral Australia. The want of vegetation is as true of some parts 
too in the centre of South America as of Australia ; and the cause 
of the difference holds out a probability for the success of artesian 
wells in extensive tracts of Africa now unpeopled solely on ac- 
count of the want of surface water. We may be allowed to spec- 
ulate a little at least on the fact of much greater vegetation, which, 
from whatever source it comes, presents for South Africa prospects 
of future greatness which we can not hope for in Central Australia. 
As the interior districts of the Cape Colony are daily becoming of 
higher value, offering to honest industry a fair remuneration for 
capital, and having a climate unequaled in salubrity for consump- 
tive patients, I should unhesitatingly recommend any farmer at 
all afraid of that complaint in his family to try this colony. "With 
the means of education already possessed, and the onward and> up- 
ward movement of the Cape population, he need entertain no ap- 
prehensions of his family sinking into barbarism. 

The route we at this time followed ran along the middle, or 
skirted the western zone before alluded to, until we reached the 
latitude of Lake ISTgami, where a totally different country begins. 
While in the colony, we passed through districts inhabited by the 
descendants of Dutch and French refugees Avho had fled from re- 
ligious persecution. Those living near the capital differ but little 
from the middle classes in English counties, and are distinguished 
by public spirit and general intelligence ; while those situated far 



112 DUTCH AND FEENCH BOERS. 

• from the centres of civilization are less informed, but are a body 
of frugal, industrious, and hospitable peasantry. A most efficient 
system of public instruction was established in the time of Gov- 
ernor Sir George Napier, on a plan drawn up in a great measure 
by that accomplished philosopher. Sir John Herschel. The sys- 
tem had to contend with less sectarian rancor than elsewhere ; 
indeed, until quite recently, that spirit, except in a mild form, was 
unknown. 

The population here described ought not to be confounded with 
some Boers who fled from British rule on account of the emanci- 
pation of their Hottentot slaves, and perhaps never would have 
been so had not every now and then some Eip Van Winkle 
started forth at the Cape to justify in the public prints the deeds 
of blood and slave-hunting in the far interior. It is therefore not 
to be wondered at if the whole race is confounded and held in low 
estimation by those who do not know the real composition of the 
Cape community. 

Population among the Boers increases rapidly; they marry soon, 
are seldom sterile, and continue to have children late. I once met 
a worthy matron whose husband thought it right to imitate the 
conduct of Abraham while Sarah was barren; she evidently agreed 
in the propriety of the measure, for she was pleased to hear the 
children by a mother of what has been thought an inferior race 
address her as their mother. Orphans are never allowed to re- 
main long destitute ; and instances are frequent in which a tender- 
hearted farmer has adopted a fatherless child, and when it came 
of age portioned it as his own. 

Two centuries of the South African climate have not had much 
effect upon the physical condition of the Boers. They are a 
shade darker, or rather ruddier, than Europeans, and are never 
cadaverous-looking, as descendants of Europeans are said to be 
elsewhere. There is a tendency to the development of steatopy- 
ga, so characteristic of Arabs and other African tribes ; and it is 
probable that the interior Boers in another century will become in 
color what the learned imagine our progenitors, Adam and Eve, to 
have been. 

The parts of the colony through which we passed were of 
sterile aspect ; and, as the present winter had been preceded by a 
severe drought, many farmers had lost two thirds of their stock. 



FAILURE OF GEASS.— NEW PLANTS. 113 

The landscape was uninviting ; the hills, destitute of trees, were 
of a dark brown color, and the scanty vegetation on the plains 
made me feel that they deserved the name of Desert more than 
the Kalahari. When first taken possession of, these parts are 
said to have been covered with a coating of grass, but that has 
disappeared with the antelopes which fed upon it, and a crop of 
mesembryanthemums and crassulas occupies its place. It is cu- 
rious to observe how, in nature, organizations the most dissimilar 
are mutually dependent on each other for their perpetuation. Here 
the original grasses were dependent for dissemination on the 
grass-feeding animals, which scattered the seeds. When, by the 
death of the antelopes, no fresh sowing was made, the African 
droughts proved too much for this form of vegetation. But even 
this contingency was foreseen by the Omniscient One ; for, as we 
may now observe in the Kalahari Desert, another family of plants, 
the mesembryanthemums, stood ready to neutralize the aridity 
which must otherwise have followed. This family of plants pos- 
sesses seed-vessels which remain firmly shut on their contents 
while the soil is hot and dry, and thus preserve the vegetative 
power intact during the highest heat of the torrid sun ; but when 
rain falls, the seed-vessel opens and sheds its contents just when 
there is the greatest probability of their vegetating. In other 
plants heat and drought cause the seed-vessels to burst and shed 
their charge. 

One of this family is edible {Mesemhryanthemum eduli) ; an- 
other possesses a tuberous root, which may be eaten raw ; and all 
are furnished with thick, fleshy leaves, having pores capable of 
imbibing and retaining moisture from a very dry atmosphere and 
soil, so that, if a leaf is broken during a period of the greatest 
drought, it shows abundant circulating sap. The plants of this 
family are found much farther north, but the great abundance 
of the grasses prevents them from making any show. There, 
however, they stand ready to fill up any gap which may occur in 
the present prevailing vegetation ; and should the grasses disap- 
pear, animal life would not necessarily be destroyed, because a re- 
serve supply, equivalent to a fresh act of creative power, has been 
provided. 

One of this family, M. turhmiforme, is so colored as to blend 
in well with the hue of the soil and stones around it; and a 

H 



114 DESEET VEGETATION. 

gryllus of the same color feeds on it. In the case of the insect, 
the peculiar color is given as compensation for the deficiency of 
the powers of motion to enable it to elude the notice of birds. The 
continuation of the species is here the end in view. In the case of 
the plant the same device is adopted for a sort of double end, viz., 
perpetuation of the plant by hiding it from animals, with the view 
that ultimately its extensive appearance will sustain that race. 

As this new vegetation is better adapted for sheep and goats in 
a dry country than grass, the Boers supplant the latter by imi- 
tating the process by which graminivorous antelopes have so 
abundantly disseminated the seed of grasses. A few wagon- 
loads of mesembryanthemum plants, in seed, are brought to a 
farm covered with a scanty crop of coarse grass, and placed on a 
spot to which the sheep have access in the evenings. As they 
eat a little every night, the seeds are dropped over the grazing 
grounds in this simple way, with a regularity which could not be 
matched except at the cost of an immense amount of labor. 
The place becomes in the course of a few years a sheep-farm, as 
these animals thrive on such herbage. As already mentioned, 
some plants of this family are furnished with an additional con- 
trivance for withstanding droughts, viz., oblong tubers, which, 
buried deep enough beneath the soil for complete protection from 
the scorching sun, serve as reservoirs of sap and nutriment dur- 
ing those rainless periods which recur perpetually in even the 
most favored spots of Africa. I have adverted to this peculiarity 
as often seen in the vegetation of the Desert; and, though rather 
out of place, it may be well — while noticing a clever imitation of 
one process in nature by the Cape farmers — to suggest another 
for their consideration. The country beyond south lat. 18° 
abounds in three varieties of grape-bearing vines, and one of 
these is furnished with oblong tubers every three or four inches 
along the horizontal root. They resemble closely those of the 
asparagus. This increase of power to withstand the eifects of 
climate might prove of value in the more arid parts of the Cape 
colony, grapes being well known to be an excellent restorative in 
the debility produced by heat: by ingrafting, or by some of 
those curious manipulations which we read of in books on garden- 
ing, a variety might be secured better adapted to the country 
than the foreign- vines at present cultivated. The Americans 



ANIMALS OF THE DESEET. 115 

find that some of their native vines yield wines superior to those 
made from the very "best imported vines from France and Por- 
tugal. What a boon a vine of the sort contemplated would have 
been to a Rhenish missionary I met at a part in the west of the 
colony called Ebenezer, whose children had never seen flowers, 
though old enough to talk about them ! 

The slow pace at which we wound our way through the colony 
made almost any subject interesting. The attention is attracted 
to the names of different places, because they indicate the former 
existence of buffaloes, elands, and elephants, which are now to be 
found only hundreds of miles beyond. A few blesbucks {Antilope 
pygarga), gnus, bluebucks {A. cerulea)^ steinbucks, and the ostrich 
{Struthio camelus), continue, like the Bushmen, to maintain a pre- 
carious existence when all the rest are gone. The elephant, the 
most sagacious, flees the sound of fire-arms first ; the gnu and os- 
trich, the most wary and the most stupid, last. The first emigrants 
found the Hottentots in possession of prodigious herds of fine 
cattle, but no horses, asses, or camels. The original cattle, which 
may still be seen in some parts of the frontier, must have been 
brought south from the north-northeast, for from this point the 
natives universally ascribe their original migration. They brought 
cattle, sheep, goats, and dogs ; why not the horse, the delight of 
savage hordes ? Horses thrive well in the Cape Colony when im- 
ported. Naturalists point out certain mountain ranges as limiting 
the habitat of certain classes of animals ; but there is no Cordillera 
in Africa to answer that purpose, there being no visible barrier 
between the northeastern Arabs and the Hottentot tribes to pre- 
vent the different hordes, as they felt their way southward, from 
indulging their taste for the possession of this noble animal. 

I am here led to notice an invisible barrier, more insurmount- 
able than mountain ranges, but which is not opposed to the 
southern progress of cattle, goats, and sheep. The tsetse would 
prove a barrier only until its well-defined habitat was known, but the 
disease passing under the term of horse-sickness [peripneumonia) 
exists in such virulence over nearly seven degrees of latitude that 
no precaution would be sufficient to save these animals. The 
horse is so liable to this disease, that only by great care in stabling 
can he be kept any where between 20° and 27° S. during the time 
between December and April. The winter, beginning in the lat- 



IIQ HOKSE-SICKNESS. 

ter month, is the only period in which Englishmen can hunt on 
horseback, and they are in danger of losing all their studs some 
months before December. To this disease the horse is especially 
exposed, and it is almost always fatal. One attack, however, 
seems to secure immunity from a second. Cattle, too, are subject 
to it, but only at intervals of a few, sometimes many years ; but 
it never makes a clean sweep of the whole cattle of a village, as 
it would do of a troop of fifty horses. This barrier, then, seems to 
explain the absence of the horse among the Hottentots, though it is 
not opposed to the southern migration of cattle, sheep, and goats. 

When the flesh of animals that have died of this disease is 
eaten, it causes a malignant carbuncle, which, when it appears 
over any important organ, proves rapidly fatal. It is more 
especially dangerous over the pit of the stomach. The eifects of 
the poison have been experienced by missionaries who had eaten 
properly cooked food, the flesh of sheep really but not visibly 
affected by the disease. The virus in the flesh of the animal is 
destroyed neither by boiling nor roasting. This fact, of which 
we have had innumerable examples, shows the superiority of ex- 
periments on a large scale to those of acute and able physiologists 
and chemists in the laboratory, for a well known physician of 
Paris, after careful investigation, considered that the virus in such 
cases was completely neutralized by boiling. 

This disease attacks wild animals too. During our residence 
at Chonuan great numbers of tolos, or koodoos, were attracted 
to the gardens of the Bakwains, abandoned at the usual period 
of harvest because there was no prospect of the corn {Holcus 
sorghuni) bearing that year. The koodoo is remarkably fond of 
the green stalks of this kind of millet. Free feeding produced, 
that state of fatness favorable for the development of this disease, 
and no fewer than twenty-five died on the hill opposite our house. 
Great numbers of gnus and zebras perished from the same cause, 
but the mortality produced no sensible diminution in the numbers 
of the game, any more than the deaths of many of the Bakwains 
who persisted, in spite of every remonstrance, in eating the dead 
meat, caused any sensible decrease in the strength of the tribe. 

The farms of the Boers consist generally of a small patch of 
cultivated land in the midst of some miles of pasturage. They 
are thus less an agricultural than a pastoral people. Each farm 



THE BOERS AS FARMERS. 1 1 7 

must have its fountain ; and where no such supply of water ex- 
ists, the government lands are unsalable. An acre in England is 
thus generally more valuable than a square mile in Africa. But 
the country is prosperous, and capable of great improvement. Tlie 
industry of the Boers augurs well for the future formation of dams 
and tanks, and for the greater fruitfulness that would certainly 
follow. 

As cattle and slieep farmers the colonists are very successful. 
Larger and larger quantities of wool are produced annually, and 
the value of colonial farms increases year by year. But the sys- 
tem requires that with the increase of the population there should 
be an extension of territory. Wide as the country is, and thinly 
inhabited, the farmers feel it to be too limited, and they are gradu- 
ally spreading to the north. This movement proves prejudicial 
to the country behind, for labor, which would be directed to the 
improvement of the colony, is withdrawn and expended in a mode 
of life little adapted to the exercise of industrial liabits. That, 
however, does not much concern the rest of mankind. Nor does 
it seem much of an evil for men who cultivate the soil to claim a 
right to appropriate lands for tillage which other men only hunt 
over, provided some compensation for the loss of sustenance be 
awarded. The original idea of a title seems to have been that 
"subduing" or cultivating gave that right. But this rather 
Chartist principle must be received with limitations, for its recog- 
nition in England would lead to the seizure of all our broad an- 
cestral acres by those who are willing to cultivate them. And, in 
the case under consideration, the encroachments lead at once to 
less land being put under tlie plow than is subjected to the native 
hoe, for it is a fact that the Basutos and Zulus, or Caffres of Na- 
tal, cultivate largely, and undersell our farmers wherever they have 
a fair field and no favor. 

Before we came to the Orange River we saw the last portion of 
a migration of springbucks {Gazella euchore, or tsepe). They 
come from the great Kalahari Desert, and, when first seen after 
crossing the colonial boundary, are said often to exceed forty thou- 
sand in number. I can not give an estimate of their numbers, 
for they appear spread over a vast expanse of country, and make 
a quivering motion as they feed, and move, and toss their graceful 
horns. They feed chiefly on grass ; and as they come from the 



118 MIGRATION OF SPRINGBUCKS. 

north about the time when the grass most abounds, it can not he 
want of food that prompts the movement. Nor is it want of 
water, for this antelope is one of the most abstemious in that re- 
spect. Their nature prompts them to seek afs their favorite haunts 
level plains with short grass, where they may be able to watch the 
approach of an enemy. The Bakalahari take advantage of this 
feeling, and burn off large patches of grass, not only to attract the 
game by the new crop when it comes up, but also to form bare 
spots for the springbuck to range over. 

It is not the springbuck alone that manifests this feeling. 
When oxen are taken into a country of high grass, they are much 
more ready to be startled ; their sense of danger is increased by 
the increased power of concealment afforded to an enemy by such 
cover, and they will often start off in terror at the ill-defined out- 
lines of each other. The springbuck, possessing this feeling in 
an intense degree, and being eminently gregarious, becomes un- 
easy as the grass of the Kalahari becomes tall. The vegetation 
being more sparse in the more arid south, naturally induces the 
different herds to turn in that direction. As they advance and 
increase in numbers, the pasturage becomes more scarce; it is 
still more so the further they go, until they are at last obliged, in 
order to obtain the means of subsistence, to cross the Orange Eiver, 
and become the pest of the sheep-farmer in a country which con- 
tains scarcely any of their favorite grassy food. If they light on 
a field of wheat in their way, an army of locusts could not make 
a cleaner sweep of the whole than they will do. It is question- 
able whether they ever return, as they have never been seen as a 
returning body. Many perish from want of food, the country to 
which they have migrated being unable to support them ; the rest 
become scattered over the colony; and in such a wide country 
there is no lack of room for all. It is probable that, notwithstand- 
ing the continued destruction by fire-arms, they will continue long 
to hold their place. 

On crossing the Orange River we come into independent terri- 
tory inhabited by Griquas and Bechuanas. By Griquas is meant 
any mixed race sprung from natives and Europeans. Those 
in question were of Dutch extraction, tln-ough association with 
Hottentot and Bushwomen. Half-castes of the first generation 
consider themselves superior to those of the second, and all possess 



THE GEIQUA CHIEF WATERBOEE. Hg 

in some degree the characteristics of both parents. They were 
governed for many years by an elected chief, named Waterboer, 
who, by treaty, received a small sum per annum from the colo- 
nial government for the support of schools in his country, and 
proved a most efficient guard of our northwest boundary. Cat- 
tle-stealing was totally unknown during the whole period of this 
able chief's reign; and he actually drove back, single-handed, a 
formidable force of marauding Mantatees that threatened to in- 
vade the colony.* But for that brave Christian man, Waterboer, 
there is every human probability that the northwest would have 
given the colonists as much trouble as the eastern frontier; for 
large numbers among the original Griquas had as little scruple 
about robbing farmers of cattle as the Caffres are reputed to have. 
On the election of Waterboer to the chieftainship, he distinctly 
declared that no marauding should be allowed. As the govern- 
ment of none of these tribes is despotic, some of his principal men, 
in spite of this declaration, plundered some villages of Corannas 
living to the south of the Orange River. He immediately seized 
six of the ringleaders, and, though the step put his own position 
in jeopardy, he summoned his council, tried, condemned, and pub- 
licly executed the whole six. This produced an insurrection, and 
the insurgents twice attacked his capital, Griqua Town, with the 
intention of deposing him ; but he bravely defeated both attempts, 
and from that day forth, during his long reign of thirty years, 
not a single plundering expedition ever left his territory. Hav- 
ing witnessed the deleterious effects of the introduction of ardent 
spirits among his people, he, with characteristic energy, decreed 
that any Boer or Griqua bringing brandy into the country should 
have his property in ardent spirits confiscated and poured out 
on the ground. The Griqua chiefs living farther east were una- 
ble to carry this law into effect as he did, hence the greater facil- 
ity with which Boers in that direction got the Griquas to part 
with their farms. 

Ten years after he was firmly established in power he enter- 
ed into a treaty with the colonial government, and during the 
twenty years which followed not a single charge was ever brought 
against either him or his people ; on the contrary, his faithful ad- 
herence to the stipulated provisions elicited numerous expressions 

* For an account of this, see MoiFat's " Scenes and Labors in South Africa." 



120 MEASURES OF COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. 

of approbation from successive governments. A late governor, 
however, of whom it is impossible to speak without respect, in a 
paroxysm of generalship which might have been good, had it not 
been totally inappropriate to the case, set about conciliating a 
band of rebellious British subjects (Boers), who murdered the 
Honorable Captain Murray, by proclaiming their independence 
while still in open rebellion, and not only abrogated the treaty 
with the Griquas, but engaged to stop the long-accustomed sup- 
plies of gunpowder for the defense of the frontier, and even to 
prevent them from purchasing it for their own defense by lawful 
trade. 

If it had been necessary to prevent supplies of ammunition 
from finding their way into the country, as it probably was, one 
might imagine that the exception should not have been made in 
favor of either Boers or CafFres, our openly-avowed enemies ; but, 
nevertheless, the exception was made, and is still continued in 
favor of the Boers, while the Bechuanas and Griquas, our con- 
stant friends, are debarred from obtaining a single ounce for ei- 
ther defense or trade ; indeed, such was the state of ignorance as 
to the relation of the border tribes with the English, even at 
Cape Town, that the magistrates, though willing to aid my re- 
searches, were sorely afraid to allow me to purchase more than ten 
pounds of gunpowder, lest the Bechuanas should take it from me 
by force. As it turned out, I actually left more than that quan- 
tity for upward of two years in an open box in my wagon at 
Linyanti. 

The lamented Sir George Cathcart, apparently unconscious of 
what he was doing, entered into a treaty with the Transvaal Boers, 
in which articles Avere introduced for the free passage of English 
traders to the north, and for the entire prohibition of slavery in 
the free state. Then passed the " gunpowder ordinance," by 
which the Bechuanas, whom alone the Boers dare attempt to 
enslave, were rendered quite defenseless. The Boers never at- 
tempt to fight with Caffres, nor to settle in CafFreland. We still 
continue to observe the treaty. The Boers never did, and nev- 
er intended to abide by its provisions ; for, immediately on the 
proclamation of their independence, a slave-hunt was undertaken 
against the Bechuanas of Sechele by four hundred Boers, under 
Mr. Peit Scholz, and the plan was adopted which had been cher- 



SUCCESS OP MISSIONARIES. 121 

islied in their hearts ever since the emancipation of the Hottentots. 
Thus, from unfortunate ignorance of the country he had to govern, 
an able and sagacious governor adopted a policy proper and wise 
had it heen in front of our enemies, hut altogether inappropriate 
for our friends against whom it has been applied. Such an error 
could not have been committed by a man of local knowledge 
and experience, such as that noble of colonial birth, Sir Andries 
Stockenstrom ; and such instances of confounding friend and foe, 
in the innocent belief of thereby promoting colonial interests, will 
probably lead the Cape commtmity, the chief part of which by no 
means feels its interest to lie in the degradation of the native 
tribes, to assert the right of choosing their own governors. This, 
with colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament, in addi- 
tion to the local self-government already so liberally conceded, 
would undoubtedly secure the perpetual union of the colony to 
the English crown. 

Many hundreds of both Griquas and Bechuanas have become 
Christians and partially civilized through the teaching of English 
missionaries. My first impressions of the progress made were 
that the accounts of the effects of the Gospel among them had 
been too highly colored. I expected a higher degree of Christian 
simplicity and purity than exists either among them or among 
om'selves. I was not anxious for a deeper insight in detecting- 
shams than others, but I expected character, such as we imagine 
the primitive disciples had — and was disappointed.* When, how- 
ever, I passed on to the true heathen in the countries beyond the 
sphere of missionary influence, and could compare the people 

* The popular notion, however, of the primitive Church is perhaps not very ac- 
curate. Those societies especially which consisted of converted Gentiles — men 
who had been accustomed to the vices and immoralities of heathenism — were cer- 
tainly any thing but pure. In spite of their conversion, some of them carried the 
stains and vestiges of their former state with them when they passed from the tem- 
ple to the church. If the instructed and civilized Greek did not all at once rise 
out of his former self, and understand and realize the high ideal of his new faith, 
we should he careful, in judging of the work of missionaries among savage tribes, 
not to apply to their converts tests and standards of too great severity. If the scoff- 
ing Lucian's account of the impostor Peregrinus may be believed, we find a church 
probably planted by the apostles manifesting less intelligence even than modern 
missionary churches. Peregrinus, a notoriously wicked man, was elected to the 
chief place among them, while Romish priests, backed by the power of Fi-ance, could 
not find a place at all in the mission churches of Tahiti and Madagascar. 



122 DEESS OF THE NATIVES. 

there with the Christian natives, I came to the conclusion that, if 
the question were examined in the most rigidly severe or scientific 
way, the change effected Tby the missionary movement would Tbe 
considered unquestionably great. 

We can not fairly compare these poor people with ourselves, 
who have an atmosphere of Christianity and enlightened puhlic 
opinion, the growth of centuries, around us, to influence our de- 
portment ; hut let any one from the natural and proper point of 
view hehold the public morality of Griqua Town, Kuruman, 
Likatlong, and other villages, and remember what even London 
was a century ago, and he must confess that the Christian mode 
of treating aborigines is incomparably the best. 

The Griquas and Bechuanas were in former times clad much 
like the Caifres, if such a word may be used where there is 
scarcely any clothing at all. A bunch of leather strings about 
eighteen inches long hung from the lady's waist in front, and a 
prepared skin of a sheep or antelope covered the shoulders, 
leaving the breast and abdomen bare: the men wore a patch 
of skin, about the size of the crown of one's hat, which barely 
served for the purposes of decency, and a mantle exactly like 
that of the women. To assist in protecting the pores of the skin 
from the influence of the sun by day and of the cold by night, 
all smeared themselves with a mixture of fat and ochre ; the 
head was anointed with pounded blue mica schist mixed with fat ; 
and the fine particles of shining mica, falling on the body and on 
strings of beads and brass rings, were considered as highly orna- 
mental, and fit for the most fastidious dandy. Now these same 
people come to church in decent though poor clothing, and behave 
with a decorum certainly superior to what seems to have been 
the case in the time of Mr. Samuel Pepys in London. Sunday 
is well observed, and, even in localities where no missionary lives, 
religious meetings are regularly held, and children and adults 
taught to read by the more advanced of their own fellow-country- 
men ; and no one is allowed to make a profession of faith by bap- 
tism unless he knows how to read, and understands the nature of 
the Christian religion. 

The Bechuana Mission has been so far successful that, when 
coming from the interior, we always felt, on reaching Kuruman, 
that we had returned to civilized life. But I would not give any 



' ABTICLES OF COMMEECE. 123 

one to understand by this tliat they are model Christians — we can 
not claim to Ibe model Christians ourselves — or even in any degree 
superior to the memhers of our country churches. They are more 
stingy and greedy than the poor at home ; but in many respects 
the two are exactly alike. On asking an intelligent chief what 
he thought of them, he replied, " You white men have no idea of 
how wicked we are ; we know each other better than you ; some 
feign belief to . ingratiate themselves with the missionaries ; some 
profess Christianity because they like the new system, which gives 
so much more importance to the poor, and desire that the old sys- 
tem may pass away ; and the rest — a pretty large number — pro- 
fess because they are really true believers." This testimony may 
be considered as very nearly correct. 

There is not much prospect of this country ever producing 
much of the materials of commerce except wool. At present the 
chief articles of trade are karosses or mantles — the skins of which 
they are composed come from the Desert ; next to them, ivory, the 
quantity of which can not now be great, inasmuch as the means 
of shooting elephants is sedulously debarred entrance into the 
country. A few skins and horns, and some cattle, make up the 
remainder of the exports. English goods, sugar, tea, and coffee 
are the articles received in exchange. All the natives of these 
parts soon become remarkably fond of coffee. The acme of re- 
spectability among the Bechuanas is the possession of cattle and a 
wagon. It is remarkable that, though these latter require frequent 
repairs, none of the Bechuanas have ever learned to mend them. 
Forges and tools have been at their service, and teachers willing 
to aid them, but, beyond putting together a camp-stool, no effort 
has ever been made to acquire a knowledge of the trades. They 
observe most carefully a missionary at work until they under- 
stand whether a tire is well welded or not, and then pronounce 
upon its merits with great emphasis, but there their ambition rests 
satisfied. It is the same peculiarity among ourselves which leads 
us in other matters, such as book-making, to attain the excellence 
of fault-finding without the wit to indite a page. It was in vain 
I tried to indoctrinate the Bechuanas with the idea that criticism 
did not imply any superiority over the workman, or even equality 
with him. 



124 KUKUMAN : ITS FOUNTAIN. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Kuruman, — Its fine Fountain. — Vegetation of the District. — ^Remains of ancient 
Forests. — Vegetable Poison. — The Bible translated by Mr. Moffat. — Capabilities 
of the Language. — Christianity among the Natives. — The Missionaries should 
extend their Labors more beyond the Cape Colony. — Model Christians. — Dis- 
graceful Attack of the Boers on the Bakwains. — Letter from Sechele. — Details 
of the Attack. — Numbers of School-children carried away into Slavery. — De- 
struction of House and Property at Kolobeng. — The Boers vow Vengeance against 
me. — Consequent Difficulty of getting Servants to accompany me on my Jour- 
ney. — Start in November, 1852. — Meet Sechele on his way to England to obtain 
Redress from the Queen. — He is unable to proceed beyond the Cape. — Meet 
Mr. Macabe on his Return from Lake Ngami. — The hot Wind of the Desert. — 
Electric State of the Atmosphere. — Flock of Swifts. — Reach Litubaruba. — 
The Cave Lepelole. — Superstitions regarding it. — Impoverished State of the 
Bakwains. — Retaliation on the Boers.— Slavery. — Attachment of the Bechu- 
anas to Children. — Hydrophobia unknown. — Diseases of the Bakwains few 
in number. — Yearly Epidemics. — Hasty Burials. — Ophthalmia. — Native 
Doctors. — Knowledge of Surgery at a very low Ebb. — Little Attendance 
given to Women at their Confinements. — The "Child Medicine." — Salu- 
brity of the Climate well adapted for Invalids suffering from pulmonary Com- 
plaints. 

The permanence of the station called Kuruman depends entire- 
ly on the fine ever-flowing fountain of that name. It comes from 
beneath the trap-rock, of which I shall have to speak when de- 
scribing the geology of the entire country ; and as it usually is- 
sues at a temperature of 72° Fahr., it probably comes from the old 
Silurian schists, which formed the bottom of the great primeval 
valley of the continent. I could not detect any diminution in the 
flow of this gushing fountain during my residence in the country ; 
but when Mr. Moffat first attempted a settlement here, thirty-five 
years ago, he made a dam six or seven miles below the present 
one, and led out the stream for irrigation, where not a drop of the 
fountain-water ever now flows. Other parts, fourteen miles below 
the Kuruman gardens, are pointed out as having contained, within 
the memory of people now living, hippopotami, and pools sufficient 
to drown both men and cattle. This failure of water must be 
chiefly ascribed to the general desiccation of the country, but 



ATTEMPTS TO OBTAIN WATEE. 125 

partly also to the amount of irrigation carried on along both banks 
of the stream at the mission station. This latter circumstance 
would have more weight were it not coincident with the failure 
of fountains over a wide extent of country. 

Without at present entering minutely into this feature of the 
climate, it may be remarked that the Kuruman district presents 
evidence of this dry southern region having, at no very distant 
date, been as well watered as the country north of Lake Ngami is 
now. Ancient river-beds and water-courses abound, and the very 
eyes of fountains long since dried up may be seen, in which the 
flow of centuries has worn these orifices from a slit to an oval form, 
having on their sides the tufa so abundantly deposited from these 
primitive waters ; and just where the splashings, made when the 
stream fell on the rock below, may be supposed to have reached 
and evaporated, the same phenomenon appears. Many of these 
failing fountains no longer flow, because the brink over which 
they ran is now too high, or because the elevation of the western 
side of the country lifts the land away from the water supply be- 
low ; but let a cutting be made from a lower level than the brink, 
and through it to a part below the surface of the water, and water 
flows perennially. Several of these ancient fountains have been 
resuscitated by the Bechuanas near Kuruman, who occasionally 
show their feelings of self-esteem by laboring for months at deep 
cuttings, which, having once begun, they feel bound in honor to 
persevere in, though told by a missionary that they can never force 
water to run up hill. 

It is interesting to observe the industry of many Boers in this 
region in making long and deep canals from lower levels up to 
spots destitute of the slightest indication of water existing beneath 
except a few rushes and a peculiar kind of coarse, reddish-colored 
grass growing in a hollow, which anciently must have been the 
eye of a fountain, but is now filled up with soft tufa. In other 
instances, the indication of water below consists of the rushes 
growing on a long, sandy ridge a foot or two in height instead of 
in a furrow. A deep transverse cutting made through the higher 
part of this is rewarded by a stream of running water. The reason 
why the ground covering this water is higher than the rest of the 
locality is that the winds carry quantities of fine dust and sand 
about the country, and hedges, bushes, and trees cause its deposit. 



126 ~ VEGETATION. 

The rushes in this case perform the part of the hedges, and the 
moisture rising as dew Ibj night fixes the sand securely amon\g the 
roots, and a height, instead of a hollow, is the result. While on 
this subject it may be added that there is no perennial fountain 
in this part of the country except those that come from beneath 
the quartzose trap, which constitutes the "filling up" of the ancient 
valley ; and as the water supply seems to rest on the old silurian 
schists which form its bottom, it is highly probable that Artesian 
wells would in several places perform the part which these deep 
cuttings now do. 

The aspect of this part of the country during most of the year 
is of a light yellow color ; for some months during the rainy 
season it is of a pleasant green mixed with yellow. Eanges of 
hills appear in the west, but east of them we find hundreds of 
miles of grass-covered plains. Large patches of these flats are 
covered with white calcareous tufa resting on perfectly horizontal 
strata of trap. There the vegetation consists of fine grass grow- 
ing in tufts among low bushes of the " wait-a-bit" thorn {Acacia 
detinens), with its annoying fish-hook-like spines. Where these 
rocks do not appear on the surface, the soil consists of yellow sand 
and tall, coarse grasses, growing among berry-yielding bushes, 
named moretloa [Grewia Jiava) and mohatla {TarchonantJms)^ 
which has enough of aromatic resinous matter to burn brightly, 
though perfectly green. In more sheltered spots we come on 
clumps of the white-thorned mimosa {Acacia horrida, also A. 
atomiphyllct), and great abundance of wild sage {Salvia Africa- 
na)., and various leguminosse, ixias, and large-flowering bulbs : the 
Amaryllis toxicaria and A. Srunsvigia multifiora (the former a 
poisonous bulb) yield in the decayed lamellse a soft, silky down, 
a good material for stuffing mattresses. 

In some few parts of the country the remains of ancient forests 
of wild olive-trees {Olea similis) and of the camel-thorn {Acacia 
giraffe) are still to be met with ; but when these are leveled in 
the proximity of a Bechuana village, no young trees spring up to 
take their places. This is not because the wood has a growth so 
slow as not to be appreciable in its increase during the short period 
that it can be observed by man, which might be supposed from 
its being so excessively hard ; for having measured a young tree 
of this species growing in the corner of Mr. Moffat's garden near 



VEGETABLE POISON. 127 

the water, I found that it increased at the rate of a quarter of an 
inch in diameter annually during a number of years. Moreover, 
the larger specimens, which now find few or no successors, if they 
had more rain in their youth, can not he above two or three hund- 
red years old. 

It is probable that this is the tree of which the Ark of the Cov- 
enant and the Tabernacle were constructed, as it is reported to be 
found where the Israelites were at the time these were made. It 
is an imperishable wood, while that usually pointed out as the 
"shittim" [or Acacia nilotica) soon decays and wants beauty. 

In association with it we always observe a curious plant, named 
ngotuane, which bears such a profusion of fine yellow strong- 
scented flowers as quite to perfume the air. This plant forms a 
remarkable exception to the general rule, that nearly all the plants 
in the dry parts of Africa are scentless, or emit only a disagree- 
able odor. It, moreover, contains an active poison ; a French 
gentleman, having imbibed a mouthful or two of an infusion of its 
flowers as tea, found himself rendered nearly powerless. Yinegar 
has the peculiar property of rendering this poison perfectly inert, 
whether in or out of the body. When mixed with vinegar, the 
poison may be drunk with safety, while, if only tasted by itself, it 
causes a burning sensation in the throat. This gentleman de- 
scribed the action of the vinegar, when he was nearly deprived of 
power by the poison imbibed, to have been as if electricity had 
run along his nerves as soon as he had taken a single glassful. 
The cure was instantaneous and complete. I had always to re- 
gret want of opportunity for investigating this remarkable and yet 
controllable agent on the nervous system. Its usual proximity to 
camel-thorn-trees may be accounted for by the jprobahility that 
the giraffe, which feeds on this tree, may make use of the plant as 
a medicine. 

During the period of my visit at Kuruman, Mr. Moffat, who has 
been a missionary in Africa during upward of forty years, and is 
well known by his interesting work, " Scenes and Labors in 
South Africa," was busily engaged in carrying through the press, 
with which his station is furnished, the Bible in the language of 
the Bechuanas, which is called Sichuana. This has been a work 
of immense labor ; and as he was the first to reduce their speech 
to a written form, and has had his attention directed to the study 



128 THE BECHUANA LANGUAGE. 

for at least thirty years, he may be supposed to be better adapted 
for the task than any man living. Some idea of the copiousness 
of the language may be formed from the fact that even he never 
spends a vreek at his work without discovering new words ; the 
phenomenon, therefore, of any man who, after a few months' or 
years' study of a native tongue, cackles forth a torrent of vocables, 
may well be wondered at, if it is meant to convey instruction. 
In my own case, though I have had as much intercourse with the 
purest idiom as most Englishmen, and have studied the language 
carefully, yet I can never utter an important statement without 
doing so very slowly, and repeating it too, lest the foreign accent, 
which is distinctly perceptible in all Europeans, should render 
the sense unintelligible. In this I follow the example of the 
Bechuana orators, who, on important matters, always speak slow- 
ly, deliberately, and with reiteration. The capabilities of this 
language may be inferred from the fact that the Pentateuch is 
fully expressed in Mr. Moffat's translation in fewer words than 
in the Greek Septuagint, and in a very considerably smaller num- 
ber than in our own English version. The language is, however, 
so simple in its construction, that its copiousness by no means 
requires the explanation that the people have fallen from a for- 
mer state of civilization and culture. Language seems to be an 
attribute of the human mind and thought ; and the inflections, 
various as they are in the most barbarous tongues, as that of the 
Bushmen, are probably only proofs of the race being human, and 
endowed with the power of thinking ; the fuller development of 
language taking place as the improvement of our other faculties 
goes on. It is fortunate that the translation of the Bible has been 
effected before the language became adulterated with half-uttered 
foreign words, and while those who have heard the eloquence of 
the native assemblies are still living; for the young, who are 
brought up in our schools, know less of the language than the 
missionaries ; and Europeans born in the country, while possessed 
of the idiom perfectly, if not otherwise educated, can not be re- 
ferred to for explanation of any uncommon word. A person who 
acted as interpreter to Sir George Cathcart actually told his ex- 
cellency that the language of the Basutos was not capable of 
expressing the substance of a chief's diplomatic paper, while every 
one acquainted with Moshesh, the chief who sent it, well knows 



TEANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. 129 

that he could in his own tongue have expressed it without study 
all over again in three or four different ways. The interpreter 
could scarcely have done as much in English. 

This language both rich and poor speak correctly ; there is no 
vulgar style ; but children have a patois of their own, using many 
words in their play which men would scorn to repeat. The Bam- 
apela have adopted a click into their dialect, and a large infusion 
of the ringing n, which seems to have been for the purpose of pre- 
venting others from understanding them. 

The fact of the complete translation of the Bible at a station 
seven hundred miles inland from the Cape naturally suggests the 
question whether it is likely to be permanently useful, and wheth- 
er Christianity, as planted by modern missions, is likely to retain 
its vitality without constant supplies of foreign teaching ? It 
would certainly be no cause for congratulation if the Bechuana 
Bible seemed at all likely to meet the fate of Elliot's Choctaw 
version, a specimen of which may be seen in the library of one 
of the American colleges — as God's word in a language which no 
living tongue can articulate, nor living mortal understand ; but a 
better destiny seems in store for this, for the Sichuana language 
has been introduced into the new country beyond Lake Ngami. 
There it is the court language, and will take a stranger any where 
through a district larger than France. The Bechuanas, moreover, 
in all probability possess that imperishability which forms so re- 
markable a feature in the entire African race. 

When converts are made from heathenism by modern mission- 
aries, it becomes an interesting question whether their faith poS'^ 
sesses the elements of permanence, or is only an exotic too tender 
fo seW-propagation when the fostei*ing care of the foreign cultiva- 
tors is withdrawn. If neither habits of self-reliance are cultivated,, 
nor opportunities given for the exercise of that virtue, the most 
promising converts are apt to become like spoiled children. In' 
Madagascar, a few Christians were left with nothing but the Bi- 
ble in their hands ; and though exposed to persecution, and even, 
death itself, as the penalty of adherence to their profession, they 
increased ten-fold in numbers, and are, if possible, more decided' 
believers now than they were when, by an edict of the queen of 
that island, the missionaries ceased their teaching. 

In South Africa such an experiment could not be made, f^r 

I 



130 TRUE DUTY OF MISSIONAEIES. 

such a variety of Christian sects have followed the footsteps of 
the London Missionary Society's successful career, that converts 
of one denomination, if left to their own resources, are eagerly 
adopted by another, and are thus more likely to become spoiled 
than trained to the manly Christian virtues. 

Another element of weakness in this part of the missionary 
field is the fact of the missionary societies considering the Cape 
Colony itself as a proper sphere for their peculiar operations. In 
addition to a well-organized and efficient Dutch Reformed Estab- 
lished Church, and schools for secular instruction, maintained by 
government, in every village of any extent in the colony, we 
have a number of other sects, as the Wesleyans, Episcopalians, 
Moravians, all piously laboring at the same good work. Now it 
■is deeply to be regretted that so much honest zeal should be so 
lavishly -expended in a district wherein there is so little scope for 
success. When w-e hear an agent of one sect urging his friends 
at home to aid him quickly to occupy some unimportant nook, 
because, if it is not speedily laid hold of, he will "not have room 
for the sole of his foot," one can not help longing that both he and 
his friends would direct their noble aspirations to the millions of 
•untaught heathen in the regions beyond, and no longer continue 
to convert the extremity of the continent into, as it were, a dam 
of benevolence. 

I would earnestly lecommend all young missionaries to go at 
once to the real heathen, and never to be content with what has 
been made ready to their hands by men of greater enterprise. 
The idea of making model Christians of the young need not be 
■entertained by any one who is secretly convinced, as most men 
who know their own hearts are, that he is not a model Christian 
himself. The Israelitish slaves brought out of Egypt by Moses 
were not converted and elevated in one generation, though under 
the direct teaching of God himself. Notwithstanding the numbers 
of miracles he wrought, a generation had to be cut off because of 
unbelief. Our own elevation, also, has been the work of centuries, 
and, remembering this, we should not indulge in overwrought ex- 
pectations as to the elevation which those who have inherited the 
degradation of ages may attain in our day. The principle might 
even be adopted by missionary societies, that one ordinary mission- 
ary's lifetime of teaching should be considered an ample supply of 



MODERN MISSIONS AND PRIMITIVE MONASTERIES. 131 

foreign teaching for any tribe in a thinly-peopled country, fov 
some never will receive the Gospel at all, while in other parts, 
when Christianity is once planted, the work is sure to go on. A 
missionary is soon known to he supported by his friends at home ; 
and though the salary is but a bare subsistence, to Africans it 
seems an enormous sum ; and, being unable to appreciate the 
motives by which he is actuated, they consider themselves enti- 
tled to various services at his hands, and defrauded if these are 
not duly rendered. This feeling is all the stronger when a young 
man, instead of going boldly to the real heathen, settles down in 
a comfortable house and garden prepared by those into whose la- 
bors he has entered. A remedy for this evil might be found in 
appropriating the houses and gardens raised by the missionaries' 
hands to their own families. It is ridiculous to call such places 
as Kuruman, for instance, "Missionary Society's property." This 
beautiful station was made what it is, not by .English money, but 
by the sweat and toil of fathers whose children have, notwith- 
standing, no place on earth which they can call a home. The 
Society's operations may be transferred to the north, and then the 
strong-built mission premises become the home of a Boer, and the 
stately stone church his cattle-pen. This place has been what 
the monasteries of Europe are said to have been when pure. The 
monks did not disdain to hold the plow. They introduced fruit- 
trees, flowers, and vegetables, in addition to teaching and emanci- 
pating the serfs. Their monasteries were mission stations, which 
resembled ours in being dispensaries for the sick, almshouses for 
the poor, and nurseries of learning. Can we learn nothing from 
them in their prosperity as the schools of Europe, and see naught 
in their history but the pollution and laziness of their decay? 
Can our wise men tell us why the former mission stations (prim- 
itive monasteries) were self-supporting, rich, and flourishing as 
pioneers of civilization and agriculture, from which we even now 
reap benefits, and modern mission stations are mere pauper estab- 
lishrtients, without that permanence or ability to be self-support- 
ing which they possessed ? 

Protestant missionaries of every denomination in South Africa 
all agree in one point, that no mere profession of Christianity is 
sufficient to entitle the converts to the Christian name. They 
are all anxious to place the Bible in the hands of the natives, and, 



132 ATTACK OF BOERS ON BAKWAINS. 

with ability to read that, there can "be little doubt as to the future. 
We believe Christianity to be divine, and equal to all it has to 
perform ; then let the good seed be widely sown, and, no matter 
to what sect the converts' may belong, the harvest will be glorious. 
Let nothing that I have said be interpreted as indicative of feel- 
ings inimical to any body of Christians, for I never, as a mission- 
ary, felt myself to be either Presbyterian, Episcopalian, or Inde- 
pendent, or called upon in any way to love one denomination less 
than another. My earnest desire is, that those who really have 
the best interests of the heathen at heart should go to them ; and 
assuredly, in Africa at least, self-denying labors among real hea- 
then will not fail to be appreciated. Christians have never yet 
dealt fairly by the heathen and been disappointed. 

When Sechele understood that we could no longer remain with 
him at Kolobeng, he sent his children to Mr. Moffat, at Kuruman, 
for instruction in all the knowledge of the white men. Mr. Mof- 
fat very liberally received at once an accession of five to his fam- 
ily, with their attendants. 

Having been detained at Kuruman about a fortnight by the 
breaking of a wagon-wheel, I was thus providentially prevented 
from being present at the attack of the Boers on the Bakwains, 
news of which was brought, about the end of that time, by Mase- 
bele, the wife of Sechele. She had herself been hidden in a cleft 
of a rock, over which a number of Boers were firing. Her infant 
began to cry, and, terrified lest this should attract the attention of 
the men, the muzzles of whose guns appeared a^ every discharge 
over her head, she took off her armlets as playthings to quiet the 
child. She brought Mr. Moffat a letter, which tells its own tale. 
Nearly literally translated it was as follows : 

"Friend of my heart's love, and of all the confidence of my 
heart, I am Sechele. I am undone by the Boers, who attacked 
me, though I had no guilt with them. They demanded that I 
should be in their kingdom, and I refused. They demanded that 
I should prevent the English and Griquas from passing (north- 
ward). I replied. These are my friends, and I can prevent no 
one (of them). They came on Saturday, and I besought them 
not to fight on Sunday, and they assented. They began on 
Monday morning at twilight, and fired with all their might, and 



SECHELE'S LETTER. 133 

burned the town with fire, and scattered us. They killed sixty 
of my people, and captured wjomen, and children, and men. And 
the mother of Baleriling (a former wife of Sechele) they also took 
prisoner. They took all the cattle and all the goods of the Bak- 
wains ; and the house of Livingstone they plundered, taking away 
all his goods. The number of wagons they had was eighty-five, 
and a cannon ; and after they had stolen my own wagon and that 
of Macabe, then the number of their wagons (counting the cannon 
as one) was eighty-eight. All the goods of the hunters (certain 
English gentlemen hunting and exploring in the north) were 
burned in the town ; and of the Boers were killed twenty-eight. 
Yes, my beloved friend, now my wife goes to see the children, 
and Kobus Hae will convey her to you. 
"I am, Sechele, 

"The Son of Mochoasele.'' 

This statement is in exact accordance with the account given 
by the native teacher Mebalwe, and also that sent by some of the 
Boers themselves to the public colonial papers. The crime of 
cattle-stealing, of which we hear so much near Caffreland, was 
never alleged against these people, and, if a single case had 
occurred when I was in the country, I must have heard of it, and 
would at once say so. But the only crime imputed in the papers 
was that " Sechele was getting too saucy." The demand made 
for his subjection and service in preventing the English traders 
passing to the north was kept out of view. 

Very soon after Pretorius had sent the marauding party against 
Kolobeng, he was called away to the tribunal of infinite justice. 
His policy is justified by the Boers generally from the instructions 
given to the Jewish warriors in Deuteronomy, xx., 10-14. Hence, 
when he died, the obituary notice ended with " Blessed are the 
dead who die in the Lord." I wish he had not "forbidden us to 
preach unto the Gentiles that they may be saved." 

The report of this outrage on the Bakwains, coupled with de- 
nunciations against myself for having, as it was alleged, taught 
them to kill Boers, produced such a panic in the country, that I 
could not engage a single servant to accompany me to the north. 
I have already alluded to their mode of warfare, and in all pre- 
vious Boerish forays the killing had all been on one side ; now, 



134 A PANIC. 

liowever, that a tribe where an Englishman had lived had begun 
to shed their blood as well, it was considered the strongest 
presumptive evidence against me. Loud vows of vengeance 
were uttered against vaj head, and threats of instant pursnit 
loy a large party on horseback, should I dare to go into or 
Tbejond their country ; and as these were coupled with the 
declaration that the English government had given over the 
whole of the native tribes to their rule, and would assist in their 
entire subjection by preventing fire-arms and ammunition- from 
entering the country, except for the use of the Boers, it was not 
to be wondered at that I was detained for months at Kuruman 
from sheer inability to get wagon-drivers. The English name, 
from being honored and respected all over the country, had 
become somewhat more than suspected ; and as the policy of 
depriving those friendly tribes of the means of defense was 
represented by the Boers as proof positive of the wish of the En- 
glish that they should he subjugated, the conduct of a govern- 
ment which these tribes always thought the paragon of justice 
and friendship was rendered totally incomprehensible to them ; 
they could neither defend themselves against their enemies, nor 
shoot the animals in the produce of which we wished them to 
trade. 

At last I found three servants willing to risk a journey to the 
north ; and a man of color named George Fleming, who had gen- 
erously been assisted by Mr. H. E. Kutherford, a mercantile gen- 
tleman of Cape Town, to endeavor to establish a trade with the 
Makololo, ]iad also managed to get a similar number ; we accord- 
ingly left Kuruman on the 20th of November, and proceeded on 
bm- journey. Our servants were the worst possible specimens of 
those who imbibe the vices without the virtues of Europeans, but 
we had no choice, and were glad to get away on any terms. 

When we reached Motito, forty miles off, we met Sechele on 
his way, as he said, " to the Queen of England." Two of his own 
children, and their mother, a former wife, were among the captives 
seized by the Boers ; and being strongly imbued with the then 
very prevalent notion of England's justice and generosity, he 
thought that in consequence of the violated treaty he had a fair 
case to lay before her majesty. He employed all his eloquence 
and powers of persuasion to induce me to accompany him, hut I 



SECHELE'S INTENDED JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 135 

excused myself on the ground that my arrangements were already 
made for exploring the north. On explaining the difficulties of 
the way, and endeavoring to dissuade him from the attempt, on 
account of the knowledge I possessed of the governor's policy, he 
put the pointed question, " Will the queen not listen to me, sup- 
posing I should reach her?" I replied, "I believe she would 
listen, but the difficulty is to get to her." " Well, I shall reach 
her," expressed his final determination. Others explained the 
difficulties more fully, but nothing could shake his resolution. 
When he reached Bloemfontein he found the English army just 
returning from a battle with the Basutos, in which both parties 
claimed the victory, and both were glad that a second engage- 
ment was not tried. Our officers invited Sechele to dine with 
them, heard his story, and collected a handsome sum of money 
to enable him to pursue his journey to England. The com- 
mander refrained from noticing him, as a single word in favor 
of the restoration of the children of Sechele would have been a 
virtual confession of the failure of his own policy at the very out- 
set. Sechele proceeded as far as the Cape ; but his resources be- 
ing there expended, he was obliged to return to his own country, 
one thousand miles distant, without accomplishing the object of 
his journey. 

On his return he adopted a mode of punishment which he had 
seen in the colony, namely, making criminals work on the public 
roads. And he has since, I am informed, made himself the mis- 
sionary to his OAvn people. He is tall, rather corpulent, and has 
more of the negro feature than common, but has large eyes. He 
is very dark, and his people swear by "Black Sechele." He has 
great intelligence, reads well, and is a fluent speaker. Great num- 
bers of the tribes formerly living under the Boers have taken ref- 
uge under his sway, and he is now greater in power than he was 
before the attack on Kolobeng. 

Having parted with Sechele, we skirted along the Kalahari 
Desert, and sometimes within its borders, giving the Boers a wide 
berth. A larger fall of rain than usual had occurred in 1852, and 
that was the completion of a cycle of eleven or twelve years, at 
which the same phenomenon is reported to have happened on three 
occasions. An unusually large crop of melons had appeared in 
consequence. We had the pleasure of meeting with Mr. J. Ma- 



136 MEETING WITH MR. MAC ABE. 

cabe returning from Lake Ngarai, which he had succeeded in reach- 
ing loy going right across the Desert from a point a little to the 
south of Kolobeng. The accounts of the abundance of water- 
melons were amply confirmed by this energetic traveler ; for, hav- 
ing these in vast quantities, his cattle subsisted on the fluid con- 
tained in them for a period of no less than twenty-one days ; and 
when at last they reached a supply of water, they did not seem 
to care much about it. Coming to the lake from the southeast, 
he crossed the Teoughe, and went round the northern part of it, 
and is the only European traveler who had actually seen it all. 
His estimate of the extent of the lake is higher than that given 
by Mr. Oswell and myself, or from about ninety to one hund- 
red miles in circumference. Before the lake was discovered, 
Macabe wrote a letter in one of the Cape papers recommending 
a certain route as likely to lead to it. The Transvaal Boers 
fined him 500 dollars for writing about " ouze felt," our coun- 
try, and imprisoned him, too, till the fine was paid. I now learned 
from his own lips that the public report of this is true. Mr. Ma- 
cabe's companion, Maharj was mistaken by a tribe of Barolongs 
for a Boer, and shot as he approached their village. When Ma- 
cabe came up and explained that he was an Englishman, they ex- 
pressed the utmost regret, and helped to bury him. This was the 
first case in recent times of an Englishman being slain by the Be- 
chuanas. We afterward heard that there had been some fight- 
ing between these Barolongs and the Boers, and that there had 
been capturing of cattle on both sides. If this was true, I can 
only say that it was the first time that I ever heard of cattle be- 
ing taken by Bechuanas. This was a Caffre war in stage the sec- 
ond ; the third stage in the development is when both sides are 
equally well armed and afraid of each other ; the fourth, when the 
English take up a quarrel not their own, and the Boers slip out 
of the fray. 

Two other English gentlemen crossed and recrossed the Desert 
about the same time, and nearly in the same direction. On re- 
turning, one of them, Captain Shelley, while riding forward on 
horseback, lost himself, and was obliged to find his way alone 
to Kuruman, some hundreds of miles distant. Beaching that 
station shirtless, and as brown as a Griqua, he was taken for one 
by Mrs. Mofikt, and was received by her with a salutation in 



HOT WIND.— ELECTRICITY. I37 

Dutch, that being the language spoken by this people. His 
suiferings must have been far more severe than any we endured. 
The result of the exertions of both Shelley and Macabe is to 
prove that the general view of the Desert always given by the na- 
tives has been substantially correct. 

Occasionally, during the very dry seasons which succeed our 
winter and precede our rains, a hot wind blows over the Desert 
from north to south. It feels somewhat as if it came from an 
oven, and seldom blows longer at a time than three days. It re- 
sembles in its effects the harmattan of the north of Africa, and at 
the time the missionaries first settled in the country, thirty-five 
years ago, it came loaded with fine reddish-colored sand. Though 
no longer accompanied by sand, it is so devoid of moisture as to 
cause the wood of the best seasoned English boxes and furniture 
to shrink, so that every wooden article not made in the country 
is warped. The verls of ramrods made in England are loosened, 
and on returning to Europe fasten again. This wind is in such 
an electric state that a bunch of ostrich feathers held a fcAV sec- 
onds against it becomes as strongly charged as if attached to a 
powerful electrical machine, and clasps the advancing hand with 
a sharp crackling sound. 

When this hot wind is blowing, and even at other times, the 
peculiarly strong electrical state of the atmosphere causes the 
movement of a native in his kaross to produce therein a stream 
of small sparks. The first time I noticed this appearance was 
while a chief was traveling with me in my wagon. Seeing part 
of the fur of his mantle, which was exposed to slight friction by 
the movement of the wagon, assume quite a luminous appear- 
ance, I rubbed it smartly with the hand, and found it readily 
gave out bright sparks, accompanied with distinct cracks. " Don't 
you see this?" said I. " The white men did not show us this," 
he replied ; " we had it long before white men came into the 
country, we and our forefathers of old." Unfortunately, I never 
inquired the name which they gave to this appearance, but I 
have no doubt there is one for it in the language. Otto von 
Guerrike is said, by Baron Humboldt, to have been the first that 
ever observed this effect in Europe, but the phenomenon had been 
familiar to the Bechuanas for ages. Nothing came of that, how- 
ever, foi;;,:they viewed the sight as if with the eyes of an ox. The 



138 FLOCKS OF SWIFTS.— SACRED CAVE. 

Imman mind lias remained here as stagnant to the present day, 
in reference to the physical operations of the universe, as it once 
did in England. No science has Been developed, and few ques- 
tions are ever discussed except those which have an intimate con- 
nection with the wants of the stomach. 

Very large flocks of swiits {Oyj)selus opus) were observed flying 
over the plains north of Kuruman. I counted a stream of them, 
which, by the time it took to pass toward the reeds of that valley, 
must have numbered upward of four thousand. Only a few of 
these birds breed at any time in this country. I have often ob- 
served them, and noticed that there was no appearance of their 
having paired ; there was no chasing of each other, nor any play- 
ing together. There are several other birds which continue in 
flocks, and move about like wandering gipsies, even during the 
breeding season, which in this country happens in the intervals 
between the cold and hot seasons, cold acting somewhat in the 
same way here as the genial warmth of spring does in Europe. 
Are these the migratory birds of Europe, which return there to 
breed and rear their young ? 

On the 31st of December, 1852, we reached the town of Sechele, 
called, from the part of the range on which it is situated, Litu- 
baruba. Near the village there exists a cave named Lepelole ; 
it is an interesting evidence of the former existence of a gushing 
fountain. No one dared to enter the Lohaheng, or cave, for it 
was the common belief that it was the habitation of the Deity. 
As \ve never had a holiday from January to December, and our 
Sundays were the periods "of our greatest exertions in teaching, 
I projected an excursion into the cave on a week-day to see the 
god of the Bakwains. The old men said that every one who 
went in remained there forever, adding, "If the teacher is so 
mad as to kill himself, let him do so alone, we shall not be to 
blame." The declaration of Sechele, that he would follow where 
I led, produced the "greatest consternation. It is curious that in 
all their pretended dreams or visions of their god he has always 
a crooked leg, like the Egyptian Thau. Supposing that those 
who were reported to have perished in this cave had fallen over 
some precipice, we went well provided with lights, ladder, lines, 
&c. ; but it turned out to be only an open cave, with an entrance 
about ten feet square, which contracts into two water-worn 



KETALIATION ON BOEES. 139 

branches, ending in round orifices through which the water once 
flowed. The only inhabitants it seems ever to have had were 
baboons. I left at the end of the upper branch one of Father 
Mathew's leaden teetotal tickets. 

I never saw the Bakwains looking so haggard and lean as at 
this time. Most of their cattle had been swept away by the Boers, 
together with about eighty fine draught oxen ; and much provision 
left with them by two officers. Captains Codrington and Webb, to 
serve for their return journey south, had been carried off also. 
On their return these officers found the skeletons of the Bakwains 
where they expected to find their own goods. All the corn, 
clothing, and furniture of the people, too, had been constimed in 
the flames which the Boers had forced the subject tribes to apply 
to the town during the fight, so that its inhabitants were now lit- 
erally starving. 

Sechele had given orders to his people not to commit any act of 
revenge pending his visit to the Queen of England ; but some of 
the young men ventured to go to meet a party of Boers returning 
from hunting, and, as the Boers became terrified and ran off, they 
brought their wagons to Litubaruba. This seems to have given 
the main body of Boers an idea that the Bakwains meant to begin 
a guerrilla war upon them. This " CafFre war" was, however, only 
in embryo, and not near that stage of development in which the 
natives have found out that the hide-and-seek system is the most 
successful. 

The Boers, in alarm, sent four of their number to ask for peace! 
I, being present, heard the condition: " Sechele's children must 
be restored to him." I never saw men so completely and uncon- 
sciously in a trap as these four Boers were. Strong parties of 
armed Bakwains occupied every pass in the hills and gorges 
around ; and had they not promised much more than they intend- 
ed, or did perform, that day would have been their last. The 
commandant Scholz had appropriated the children of Sechele to 
be his own domestic slaves. I was present when one little boy, 
Khari, son of Sechele, was returned to his mother ; the child had 
been allowed to roll into the fire, and there were three large un- 
bound open sores on different parts of his body. His mother and 
the. women received him with a flood of silent tears. 

Slavery is said to be mild and tender-hearted in some places. 



l^Q LOVE OF CHILDKEN. 

The Boers assert that they are the best of masters, and that, if the 
English had possessed the Hottentot slaves, they would have re- 
ceived much worse treatment than they did: what that would 
have been it is difficult to imagine. I took down the names of 
some scores of boys and girls, many of whom I knew as our schol- 
ars; but I could not comfort the weeping mothers by any hope of 
their ever returning from slavery. 

The Bechuanas are universally much attached to children. A 
little child toddling near a party of men while they are eating is 
sure to get a handful of the food. This love of children may 
arise, in a great measure, from the patriarchal system under which 
they dwell. Every little stranger forms an increase of property 
to the whole community, and is duly reported to the chief — boys 
being more welcome than girls. The parents take the name of 
the child, and often address their children as Ma (mother), or Ea 
(father). Our eldest boy being named Robert, Mrs. Livingstone 
was, after his birth, always addressed as Ma-Eobert, instead of 
Mary, her Christian name. 

I have examined several cases in which a grandmother has 
taken upon herself to suckle a grandchild. Masina of Kuruman 
had no children after the birth of her daughter Sina, and had no 
milk after Sina was weaned, an event which usually is deferred 
till the child is two or three years old. Sina married when she 
was seventeen or eighteen, and had twins; Masina, after at least 
fifteen years' interval since she had suckled a child, took posses- 
sion of one of them, applied it to her breast, and milk flowed, so 
that she was able to nurse the child entirely. Masina was at this 
time at least forty years of age. I have witnessed several other 
cases analogous to this. A grandmother of forty, or even less, for 
they become withered at an early age, when left at home with a 
young child, applies it to her own shriveled breast, and milk soon 
follows. In some cases, as that of Ma-bogosing, the chief wife of 
Mahure,who was about thirty-five years of age, the child was not 
entirely dependent on the grandmother's breast, as the mother suck- 
led it too. I had witnessed the production of milk so frequently 
by the simple application of the lips of the child, that I was not 
therefore surprised when told by the Portuguese in Eastern Africa 
of a native doctor who, by applying a poultice of the pounded 
larvffi of "hornets to the breast of a woman, aided by the attempts 



I 

PHENOMENON IN THE NURTUEE OF CHELDEEN. 14X 

of the child, could bring hack the milk. Is it not possible that 
the story in the " Cloud of Witnesses" of a man, during the time 
of persecution in Scotland, putting his child to his own breast, 
and finding, to the astonishment of the whole country, that milk 
followed the act, may have been literally true ? It was regarded 
and is quoted as a miracle ; but the feelings of the father toward 
the child of a murdered mother must have been as nearly as pos- 
sible analogous to the maternal feeling ; and, as anatomists de- 
clare the structure of both male and female breasts to be identical, 
there is nothing physically impossible in the alleged result. The 
illustrious Baron Humboldt quotes an instance of the male breast 
yielding milk ; and, though I am not conscious of being over-cred- 
ulous, the strange instances I have examined in the opposite sex 
• make me believe that there is no error in that philosopher's state- 
ment. 

The Boers know from experience that adult captives may as 
well be left alone, for escape is so easy in a wild country that no' 
fugitive-slave-law can come into operation ; they therefore adopt 
the system of seizing only the youngest children, in order that 
these may forget their parents and remain in perpetual bondage. 
I have seen mere infants in their houses repeatedly. This fact 
was formerly denied ; and the only thing which was wanting to 
make the previous denial of the practice of slavery and slave-hunt- 
ing by the Transvaal Boers no longer necessary was the declara- 
tion of their independence. 

In conversation with some of my friends here I learned that 
Maleke, a chief of the Bakwains, who formerly lived on the hill Li- 
tubaruba, had been killed by the bite of a mad dog. My curiosity 
was strongly excited by this statement, as rabies is so rare in this 
country. I never heard of another case, and could not satisfy my- 
self that even this was real hydrophobia. While I was at Ma- 
botsa, some dogs became affected by a disease which led them to 
run about in an incoherent state ; but I doubt whether it was any 
thing but an affection of the brain. No individual or animal got 
the complaint by inoculation from the animals' teeth ; and from 
all that I could hear, the prevailing idea of hydrophobia not exist- 
ing within the tropics seems to be quite correct. 

The diseases known among the Bakwains are remarkably few. 
There is no consumption nor scrofula, and insanity and hydro- 



142 DISEASES. 

cephalus are rare. Cancer and cholera are quite unknown. 
Small-pox and measles passed through the country about twenty- 
years ago, and committed great ravages ; hut, though the former 
has since broken out on the coast repeatedly, neither disease has 
since traveled inland. For small-pox, the natives employed, in 
some parts, inoculation in the forehead with some animal deposit ; 
in other parts, they employed the matter of the small-pox itself; 
and in one village they seem to have selected a virulent case for 
the matter used in the operation, for nearly all the village was 
swept off by the disease in a malignant confluent form. Where 
the idea came from I can not conceive. It was practiced by the 
Bakwains at a time when they had no- intercourse, direct or indi- 
rect, with the southern missionaries. They all adopt readily the 
use of vaccine virus when it is brought within their reach. 

A certain loathsome disease, which decimates the North Amer- 
ican Indians, and threatens extirpation to the South Sea Island- 
ers, dies out in the interior of Africa without the aid of medicine ; 
and the Bangwaketse, who brought it from the west coast, lost it 
when they came into their own land southwest of Kolobeng. It 
seems incapable of permanence in any form in persons of pure Af- 
rican blood any where in the centre of the country. In persons 
of mixed blood it is otherwise ; and the virulence of the secondary 
symptoms seemed to be, in all the cases that came under my care, 
in exact proportion to the greater or less amount of European blood 
in the patient. Among the Corannas and Griquas of mixed breed 
it produces the same ravages as in Europe ; among half-blood 
Portuguese it is equally frightful in its inroads on the system; 
but in the pure Negro of the central parts it is quite incapable of 
. permanence. Among the Barotse I found a disease called manas- 
sah, which closely resembles that of the foeda mulier of history. 

Equally unknown is stone in the bladder and gravel. I never 
met with a case, though the waters are often so strongly impreg- 
nated with sulphate of lime that kettles quickly become incrust- 
ed internally with the salt ; and some of my patients, who were 
troubled with indigestion, believed that their stomachs had got 
into the same condition. This freedom from calculi would appear 
to be remarkable in the negro race, even in the United States ; for 
seldom indeed have the most famed lithotomists there ever oper- 
ated on a negro. ; 



PREMATURE BURIALS.— OPHTHALMIA. I43 

The diseases most prevalent are the following : pneumonia, 
produced by sudden changes of temperature, and other inflamma- 
tions, as of the bowels, stomach, and pleura ; rheumatism ; dis- 
ease of the heart — but these become rare as the people adopt the 
European dress — various forms of indigestion and ophthalmia ; 
hooping-cough comes frequently ; and every year the period pre- 
ceding the rains is marked by some sort of epidemic. Sometimes 
it is general ophthalmia, resembling closely the Egyptian. In 
another year it is a kind of diarrhoea, which nothing will cure un- 
til there is a fall of rain, and any thing acts as a charm after that. 
One year the epidemic period was marked by a disease which 
looked like pneumonia, but had the peculiar symptom strongly 
developed of great pain in the seventh cervical process. Many 
persons died of it, after being in a comatose state for many hours 
or days before their decease. No inspection of the body being 
ever allowed by these people, and the place of sepulture being 
carefully concealed, I had to rest satisfied with conjecture. Fre- 
quently the Bakwains buried their dead in the huts where they 
died, for fear lest the witches (Baloi) should disinter their friends, 
and use some part of the body in their fiendish arts. Scarcely 
is the breath out of the body when the unfortunate patient is 
hurried away to be buried. An ant-eater's hole is often selected, 
in order to save the trouble of digging a grave. On two occasions 
while I was there this hasty burial was followed by the return 
honie of the men, who had been buried alive, to their affrighted 
relatives. They had recovered, while in their graves, from pro- 
longed swoons. 

In ophthalmia the doctors cup on the temples, and apply to the 
eyes the pungent smoke of certain roots, the patient, at the same 
time, taking strong draughts of it up his nostrils. We found the 
solution of nitrate of silver, two or three grains to the ounce of 
rain-water, answer the same end so much more effectually, that 
every morning numbers of patients crowded round our house for 
the coUyrium. It is a good preventive of an acute attack when 
poured into the eyes as soon as the pain begins, and might prove 
valuable for travelers. Cupping is performed with the horn of a 
goat or antelope, having a little hole pierced in the small end. 
In some cases a small piece of wax is attached, and a temporary 
hole made through it to the horn. When the air is well with- 



]^44 CUPPING.— NATIVE DOCTORS. 

drawn, and kept out by touching the orifice, at every inspiration, 
with the point of the tongue, the wax is at last pressed together 
with the teeth, and the little hole in it closed up, leaving a vacuum 
within the horn for the blood to flow from the already scarified 
parts. The edges of the horn applied to the surface are wetted, 
and cupping is well performed, though the doctor occasionally, by 
separating the fibrine from the blood in a basin of water by his 
side, and exhibiting it, pretends that he has extracted something 
more than blood. He can thus explain the rationale of the cure 
by his own art, and the ocular demonstration given is well appre- 
ciated. 

Those doctors who have inherited their profession as an heir- 
loom from their fathers and grandfathers generally possess some 
valuable knowledge, the result of long and close observation ; 
but if a man can not say that the medical art is in his family, he 
may be considered a quack. With the regular practitioners I al- 
ways remained on the best terms, by refraining from appearing to 
doubt their skill in the presence of their patients. Any explana- 
tion in private was thankfully received by them, and wrong treat- 
ment changed into something more reasonable with cordial good- 
will, if no one but the doctor and myself were present at the con- 
versation. English medicines Avere eagerly asked for and accept- 
Bd by all ; and we always found medical knowledge an import- 
ant aid in convincing the people that we were really anxious for 
their welfare. We can not accuse them of ingratitude ; in fact, 
we shall remember the kindness of the Bakwains to us as long as 
we live. 

The surgical knowledge of the native doctors is rather at a low 
ebb. No one ever attempted to remove a tumor except by ex- 
ternal applications. Those with which the natives are chiefly 
troubled are fatty and fibrous tumors ; and as they all have the 
vis medicatrix naturce in remarkable activity, I safely removed an 
immense number. In illustration of their want of surgical knowl- 
edge may be mentioned the case of a man who had a tumor 
as large as a child's head. This was situated on the nape of 
his neck, and prevented his walking straight. He applied to 
his chief, and he got some famous strange doctor from the East 
Coast to cure him. He and his assistants attempted to dissolve 
it by kindling on it a little fire made of a few small pieces 



LOW STATE OF SUEGICAL KNOWLEDGE, 145 

of medicinal roots. I removed it for him, and he always walked 
Avith liis head much more erect than he needed to do ever 
afterward. Both men and women submit to an operation without 
wincing, or any of that shouting which caused young students to 
faint in the operating theatre before the introduction of chloro- 
form. The women pride themselves on their ability to bear pain. 
A mother will address her little girl, from whose foot a thorn is 
to be extracted, with, " Now, ma, you are a woman ; a woman 
does not cry." A man scorns to shed tears. When we were 
passing one of the deep wells in the Kalahari, a boy, the son of 
an aged father, had been drowned in it while playing on its 
brink. When all hope was gone, the father uttered an exceed- 
ingly great and bitter cry. It was sorrow without hope. This 
was the only instance I ever met with of a man weeping in this 
country. 

Their ideas on obstetrics are equally unscientific, and a med- 
ical man going near a woman at her confinement appeared to 
them more out of place than a female medical student appears to 
us in a dissecting-room. A case of twins, however, happening,, 
and the ointment of all the doctors of the town proving utterly 
insufficient to effect the relief which a few seconds of English art 
afforded, the prejudice vanished at once. As it would have been 
out of the question for me to have entered upon this branch of 
the profession — as indeed it would be inexpedient for any medical 
man to devote himself exclusively, in a thinly-peopled country, to 
the practice of medicine — I thereafter reserved myself for the dif- 
ficult cases only, and had the satisfaction of often conferring 
great benefits on poor women in their hour of sorrow. The poor 
creatures are often placed in a little hut built for the purpose, 
and are left without any assistance whatever, and the numbers of 
umbilical hernise which are met with in consequence is very great. 
The women suffer less at their confinement than is the case in 
civilized countries ; perhaps from their treating it, not as a disease, 
but as an operation of nature, requiring no change of diet except 
a feast of meat and abundance of fresh air. The husband on 
these occasions is bound to slaughter for his lady an ox, or goat, 
or sheep, according to his means. 

My knowledge in the above line procured for me great 
fame in a department in which I could lay no claim to merit. 

K 



146 CHILD MEDICINE. 

A woman came a distance of one hundred miles for relief in 
a complaint which seemed to have Ibaffled the native doctors ; 
a complete cure was the result. Some twelve months after 
she returned to her husband, she hore a son. Her husband 
having previously reproached her for being barren, she sent me a 
handsome present, and proclaimed all over the country that I 
possessed a medicine for the cure of sterility. The consequence 
was, that I was teased with applications from husbands and 
wives from all parts of the country. Some came upward of two 
hundred miles to purchase the great boon, and it was in vain for 
me to explain that I had only cured the disease of the other 
case. The more I denied, the higher their offers rose ; they 
would give any money for the "child medicine;" and it was 
really heart-rending to hear the earnest entreaty, and see the 
tearful eye, which spoke the intense desire for offspring : " I am 
getting old ; you see gray hairs here and there on my head, and 
I have no child ; you know how Bechuana husbands cast their 
old wives away ; what can I do ? I have no child to bring water 
to me when I am sick," etc. 

The whole of the country adjacent to the Desert, from Kuru- 
man to Kolobeng, or Litubaruba, and beyond up to the latitude 
of Lake Ngami, is remarkable for its great salubrity of climate. 
Not only the natives, but Europeans whose constitutions have 
been impaired by an Indian climate, find the tract of country 
indicated both healthy and restorative. The health and longevity 
of the missionaries have always been fair, though mission-work 
is not very conducive to either elsewhere. Cases have been 
known in which patients have come from the coast with com- 
plaints closely resembling, if they were not actually, those of con- 
sumption ; and they have recovered by the influence of the cli- 
mate alone. It must always be borne in mind that the climate 
near the coast, from which we received such very favorable re- 
ports of the health of the British troops, is actually inferior for 
persons suffering from pulmonary complaints to that of any part 
not subjected to the influence of sea-air. I have never seen the 
beneficial effects of the inland climate on persons of shattered 
constitutions, nor heard their high praises of the benefit they have 
derived from traveling, without wishing that its bracing efifects 
should become more extensively known in England. No one 



SALUBRITY OF CLIMATE. 147 

who has visited the region I have above mentioned fails to re- 
member with pleasure the wild, healthful gipsy life of wagon-trav- 
eling. 

A considerable proportion of animal diet seems requisite here. 
Independent of the want of salt, we required meat in as large quan- 
tity daily as we do in England, and no bad effects, in the way of 
biliousness, followed the free use of flesh, as in other hot climates. 
A vegetable diet causes acidity and heartburn. 

Mr. Oswell thought this climate much superior to that of Peru, 
as far as pleasure is concerned ; the want of instruments unfortu- 
nately prevented my obtaining accurate scientific data for the 
medical world on this subject ; and were it not for the great ex- 
pense of such a trip, I should have no hesitation in recommending 
the borders of the Kalahari Desert as admirably suited for all pa- 
tients having pulmonary complaints. It is the complete antipo- 
des to our cold, damp, English climate. The winter is perfectly 
dry ; and as not a drop of rain falls during that period, namely, 
from the beginning of May to the end of August, damp and cold 
are never combined. However hot the day may have been at Ko- 
lobeng — and the thermometer sometimes rose, previous to a fall 
of rain, up to 96° in the coolest part of our house — yet the at- 
mosphere never has that steamy feeling nor those debilitating ef- 
fects so well known in India and on the coast of Africa itself. In 
the evenings the air becomes deliciously cool, and a pleasant re- 
freshing night follows the hottest day. The greatest heat ever 
felt is not so oppressive as it is when there is much humidity in 
the air ; and the great evaporation consequent on a fall of rain 
makes the rainy season the most agreeable for traveling. Noth- 
ing can exceed the balmy feeling of the evenings and mornings 
during the whole year. You wish for an increase neither of cold 
nor heat ; and you can sit out of doors till midnight without ever 
thinking of colds or rheumatism ; or you may sleep out at night, 
looking up to the moon till you fall asleep, without a thought or 
sign of moon-blindness. Indeed, during many months there is 
scarcely any dew. 



148 DEPAETUKE FKOM BAKWAIN COUNTEY. 



CHAPTER YII. 

Departure from the Country of the Bakwains. — Large black Ant. — ^Land Tor- 
toises. — Diseases of wild Animals. — Habits of old Lions. — Cowardice of the 
Lion. — Its Dread of a Snare. — Major Vardon's Note. — The Eoar of the Lion re- 
sembles the Cry of the Ostrich. — Seldom attacks full-grown Animals. — Buffaloes 
and Lions. — Mice. — Serpents. — Treading on one. — Venomous and harmless Va- 
rieties. — Fascination. — Sekomi's Ideas of Honesty. — Ceremony of the Sechu for 
Boys. — The Boyale for young Women. — Bamangwato Hills. — The Unicorn's 
Pass. — The Country beyond. — Grain. — Scarcity of Water. — Honorable Conduct 
of English Gentlemen. — Gordon Cumming's hunting Adventures. — A Word of 
Advice for young Sportsmen. — Bushwomen drawing Water. — Ostrich, — Silly 
Habit. — Paces. — Eggs. — Food. 

Having remained five days with the wretched Bakwains, see- 
ing the effects of war, of which only a very inadequate idea can 
ever he formed by those who have not been eye-witnesses of its 
miseries, we prepared to depart on the 15th of January, 1853. 
Several dogs, in better condition by far than any of the people, 
had taken up their residence at the water. No one would own 
them ; there they had remained, and, coming on the trail of the 
people, long after their departure from the scene of conflict, it was 

plain they had 

"Held o'er the dead their carnival." 

Hence the disgust with which they were viewed. 

On our way from Khopong, along the ancient river-bed which 
forms the pathway to Boatlanama, I found a species of cactus, be- 
ing the third I have seen in the country, namely, one in the colo- 
ny with a bright red flower, one at Lake Ngami, the flower of which 
was liver-colored, and the present one, flower unknown. That 
the plant is uncommon may be inferred fi-om the fact that the 
Bakwains find so much difficulty in recognizing the plant again 
after having once seen it, that they believe it has the power of 
changing its locality. 

On the 21st of January we reached the wells of Boatlanama, 
and found them for the first time empty. Lopepe, which I had for- 
merly seen a stream running from a large reedy pool, was also dry. 
The hot salt spring of Serinane, east of Lopepe, being undrinkable. 



LAOT) TOETOISES. 149 

we pushed on to Mashiie for its delicious waters. In traveling 
through this country, the olfactory nerves are frequently excited 
by a strong disagreeable odor. This is caused by a large jet- 
black ant named " Leshonya." It is nearly an inch in length, and 
emits a pungent smell when alarmed, in the same manner as the 
skunk. The scent must be as volatile as ether, for, on irritating 
the insect with a stick six feet long, the odor is instantly per- 
ceptible. 

Occasionally we lighted upon land tortoises, which, with their 
unlaid eggs, make a very agreeable dish. We saw many of their 
trails leading to the salt fountain ; they must have come great 
distances for this health-giving article. In lieu thereof they often 
devour wood-ashes. It is wonderful how this reptile holds its 
place in the country. When seen, it never escapes. The young 
are taken for the sake of their shells ; these are made into boxes, 
which, filled with sweet-smelling roots, the women hang around 
^:heir persons. When older it is used as food, and the shell con- 
verted into a rude basin to hold food or water. It owes its con- 
tinuance neither to speed nor cunning. Its color, yellow and 
dark brown, is well adapted, by its similarity to the surrounding 
grass and brushwood, to render it indistinguishable ; and, though 
it makes an awkward attempt to run on the approach of man, its 
trust is in its bony covering, from which even the teeth of a hyana 
glance off foiled. When this long-Hved creature is about to deposit 
her eggs, she lets herself into the ground by throwing the earth 
up round her shell, until only the top is visible ; then covering 
up the eggs, she leaves them untU the rains begin to fall and the 
fresh herbage appears ; the young ones then come out, their shells 
still quite soft, and, unattended by their dam, begin the world for 
themselves. Their food is tender grass and a plant named tho- 
tona, and they frequently resort to heaps of ashes and places con- 
taining efflorescence of the nitrates for the salts these contain. 

Inquiries among the Bushmen and Bakalahari, who are inti- 
mately acquainted with the habits of the game, lead to the belief 
that many diseases prevail among wild animals. I have seen the 
kokong or gnu, kama or hartebeest, the tsessebe, kukama, and 
the giraffe, so mangy as to be uneatable even by the natives. 
Eeference has already been made to the peripneumonia which cuts 
off horses, tolos or koodoos. Great numbers also of zebras are 



150 DISEASES OF WILD ANIMALS. 

found dead with masses of foam at the nostrils, exactly as occurs 
in the common "horse-sickness." The production of the malig- 
nant carbuncle called kuatsi, or selonda, by the flesh when eaten, 
is another proof of the disease of the tame and wild being identical. 
I once found a buffalo blind from ophthalmia standing by the 
fountain Otse ; when he attempted to run he lifted up his feet in 
the manner peculiar to blind animals. The rhinoceros has often 
worms on the conjunction of his eyes ; but these are not the cause 
of the dimness of vision which will make him charge past a man 
who has wounded him, if he stands perfectly still, in the belief that 
his enemy is a tree. It probably arises from the horn being in 
the line of vision, for the variety named kuabaoba, which has a 
straight horn directed downward away from that line, possesses 
acute eyesight, and is much more wary. 

All the wild animals are subject to intestinal worms besides. I 
have observed bunches of a tape-like thread and short worms of 
enlarged sizes in the rhinoceros. The zebra and elephants are 
seldom without them, and a thread-worm may often be seen under 
the peritoneum of these animals. Short red larv«, which convey 
a stinging sensation to the hand, are seen clustering round the 
orifice of the windpipe (trachea) of this animal at the back of the 
throat ; others are seen in the frontal sinus of antelopes ; and 
curious flat, leech-like worms, with black eyes, are found in the 
stomachs of leches. The zebra, giraffe, eland, and kukama have 
been seen mere skeletons from decay of their teeth as well as from 
disease. 

The carnivora, too, become diseased and mangy ; lions become 
lean and perish miserably by reason of the decay of the teeth. 
When a lion becomes too old to catch game, he frequently takes 
to killing goats in the villages ; a woman or child happening to go 
out at night falls a prey too ; and as this is his only source of sub- 
sistence now, he continues it. From this circumstance has arisen 
the idea that the lion, when he has once tasted human flesh, loves 
it better than any other. A man-eater is invariably an old lion ; 
and when he overcomes his fear of man so far as to come to villages 
for goats, the people remark, " His teeth are worn, he will soon kill 
men." They at once acknowledge the necessity of instant action, 
and turn out to kill him. When living far away from population, 
or when, as is the case in some parts, he entertains a wholesome 



THE LION. 15X 

dread of the Bushmen and Bakalahari, as soon as either disease or 
old age overtakes him, he begins to catch mice and other small 
rodents, and even to eat grass ; the natives, observing undigested 
vegetable matter in his droppings, follow up his trail in the cer- 
tainty of finding him scarcely able to move under some tree, and 
dispatch him without difficulty. The grass may have been eaten 
as medicine, as is observed in dogs. 

That the fear of man often remains excessively strong in the 
carnivora is proved from well-authenticated cases in which the 
lioness, in the vicinity of towns where the large game had been 
unexpectedly driven away by fire-arms, has been known to assuage 
the paroxysms of hunger by devouring her own young. It must 
be added, that, though the efiluvium which is left by the footsteps 
of man is in general sufficient to induce lions to avoid a village, 
there are exceptions; so many came about our half- deserted 
houses at Chonuane while we were in the act of removing to 
Kolobeng, that the natives who remained with Mrs. Livingstone 
were terrified to stir out of doors in the evenings. Bitches, also, 
have been known to be guilty of the horridly unnatural act of 
eating their own young, probably from the great desire for animal 
food, which is experienced by the inhabitants as well. 

When a lion is met in the daytime, a circumstance by no 
means unfrequent to travelers in these parts, if preconceived no- 
tions do not lead them to expect something very "aioble" or "ma- 
jestic," they will see merely an animal somewhat larger than the 
biggest dog they ever saw, and partaking very strongly of the ca- 
nine features ; the face is not much like the usual drawings of a 
lion, the nose being prolonged like a dog's ; not exactly such as 
our painters make it — though they might learn better at the Zoo- 
logical Gardens — their ideas of majesty being usually shown by 
making their lions' faces like old women in nightcaps. When 
encountered in the daytime, the lion stands a second or two, gaz- 
ing, then turns slowly round, and walks as slowly away for a doz- 
en paces, looking over his shoulder ; then begins to trot, and, when 
he thinks himself out of sight, bounds off like a greyhound. By 
day there is not, as a rule, the smallest danger of lions which are 
not molested attacking man, nor even on a clear moonlight night, 
except when they possess the breeding aropyrj (natural affection) ; 
this makes them brave almost any danger; and if a man hap- 



152 HABITS OF THE LION. 

pens to cross to the windward of them, Iboth lion and lioness 
will rush at him, in the manner of a bitch with whelps. This 
does not often happen, as I only became aware of two or three 
instances of it. In one case a man, passing where the wind 
blew fifom him to the animals, was bitten before he could climb a 
tree ; and occasionally a man on horseback has been caught by 
the leg under the same circumstances. So general, however, is 
the sense of security on moonlight nights, that we seldom tied up 
our oxen, but let them lie loose by the wagons ; while on a dark, 
rainy night, if a lion is in the neighborhood, he is almost sure to 
venture to kill an ox. His approach is always stealthy, except 
when wounded ; and any appearance of a trap is enough to cause 
him to refrain from making the last spring. This seems charac- 
teristic of the feline species ; when a goat is picketed in India for 
the purpose of enabling the huntsmen to shoot a tiger by night, 
if on a plain, he would whip off the animal so quickly by a stroke 
of the paw that no one could take aim ; to obviate this, a small 
pit is dug, and the goat is picketed to a stake in the bottom ; a 
small stone is tied in the ear of the goat, which makes him cry 
the whole night. When the tiger sees the appearance of a trap, he 
walks round and round the pit, and allows the hunter, who is lying 
in wait, to have a fair shot. 

When a lion is very hungry, and lying in wait, the sight of 
an animal may make him commence stalking it. In one case a 
man, while stealthily crawling toward a rhinoceros, happened to 
glance behind him, and found to his horror a lion stalking him ; 
he only escaped by springing up a tree like a cat. At Lopepe a 
lioness sprang on the after quarter of Mr. Oswell's horse, and 
when we came up to him we found the marks of the claws on 
the horse, and a scratch on Mr. O.'s hand. The horse, on feeling 
the lion on him, sprang away, and the rider, caught by a wait-a- 
bit thorn, was brought to the ground and rendered insensible. 
His dogs saved him. Another English gentleman (Captain Cod- 
rington) was surprised in the same way, though not hunting the 
lion at the time, but turning round he shot him dead in the 
neck. By accident a horse belonging to Codrington ran away, 
but was stopped by the bridle catching a stump ; there he 
remained a prisoner two days, and when found the whole space 
around was marked by the footprints of lions. They had evi- 



HABITS OF THE LION. 153 

dently been afraid to attack the haltered horse from fear that it 
was a trap. Two lions came up by night to within three yards 
of oxen tied to a wagon, and a sheep tied to a tree, and stood roar- 
ing, but afraid to make a spring. On another occasion one of our 
party was lying sound asleep and unconscious of danger between 
two natives behind a bush at Mashue ; the fire was nearly out at 
their feet in consequence of all being completely tired out by the 
fatigues of the previous day ; a lion came up to within three yards 
of the fire, and there commenced roaring instead of making a 
spring : the fact of their riding-ox being tied to the bush was the 
only reason the lion had for not following his instinct, and making 
a meal of flesh. He then stood on a knoll three hundred yards 
distant, aipid roared all night, and continued his growling as the 
party moved off by daylight next morning. 

Nothing that I ever learned of the lion would lead me to at- 
tribute to it either the ferocious or noble character ascribed to it 
elsewhere. It possesses none of the nobility of the Newfoundland 
or St. Bernard dogs. With respect to its great strength there can 
be no doubt. The immense masses of muscle around its jaws, 
shoulders, and forearms proclaim tremendous force. They would 
seem, however, to be inferior in power to those of the Indian tiger. 
Most of those feats of strength that I have seen performed by 
lions, such as the taking away of an ox, were not carrying, but 
dragging or trailing the carcass along the ground: they have 
sprung on some occasions on to the hind-quarters of a horse, but 
no one has ever seen them on the withers of a giraffe. They do 
not mount on the hind-quarters of an eland even, but try to tear 
him down with their claws. Messrs. Oswell and Vardon once 
saw three lions endeavoring to drag down a buffalo, and they were 
unable to do so for a time, though he was then mortally wounded 
by a two-ounce ball.* 

* This singular encounter, in the words of an eye-witness, happened as follows : 
" My South African Journal is now before me, and I have got hold of the ac- 
count of the lion and buffalo affair; here it is: '15th September, 1846-. Oswell 
and I were riding this afternoon along the banks of the Limpopo, when a water- 
buck started in front of us. I dismounted, and was following it through the jungle, 
when three buffaloes got up, and, after going a little distance, stood still, and the 
nearest bull turned round and looked at me, A ball from the two-ouncer crashed 
into his shoulder, and they all three made off. Oswell and I followed as soon as I 



154 HABITS OF THE LION. 

In general the lion seizes the animal he is attacking by the 
flank near the hind leg, or loy the throat below the jaw. It is 
questionable whether he ever attempts to seize an animal by the 
withers. The flank is the most common point of attack, and that 
is the part he begins to feast on first. The natives and lions are 
very similar in their tastes in the selection of tit-bits : an eland 
may be seen disemboweled by a lion so completely that he 
scarcely seems cut up at all. The bowels and fatty parts form a 
full meal for even th^ largest lion. The jackal comes sniffing 
about, and sometimes suffers for his temerity by a stroke from the 
lion's paw laying him dead. When gorged, the lion falls fast 
asleep, and is then easily dispatched. Hunting a lion with dogs 
involves very little danger as compared with hunting the Indian 
tiger, because the dogs bring him out of cover and make him 
stand at bay, giving the hunter plenty of time for a good deliber- 
ate shot. 

Where game is abundant, there you may expect lions in pro- 
portionately large numbers. They are never seen in herds, but 
six or eight, probably one family, occasionally hunt together. One 



had reloaded, and when we were in sight of the buffalo, and gaining on him at 
every stride, three lions leajDcd on the unfortunate brute; he bellowed most lustily 
as .he kept up a kind of running fight, but he was, of course, soon overpowered and 
pulled down. "We had a fine view of the struggle, and saw the lions on their hind 
legs tearing away with teeth and claws in most ferocious style. We crept up 
within thirty yards, and, kneeling down, blazed away at the lions. My rifle was a 
single barrel, and I had no spare gun. One lion fell dead almost on the buffalo ; 
he had merely time to turn toward us, seize a bush with his teeth, and drop 
dead with the stick in his jaws. The second made off immediately; and the 
third raised hi^ head, coolly looked round for a moment, then went on tearing 
and biting at the carcass as hard as ever. We retired a short distance to load, 
then again advanced and fired. The lion made off, but a ball that he received 
ought to have stopped him, as it went clean through his shoulder-blade. He 
was followed up and killed, after having charged several times. Both lions 
were males. It is not often that one bags a brace of lions and a bull buffalo 
in about ten minutes. It was an exciting adventure, and I shall never forget 
it.' 

" Such, my dear Livingstone, is the plain unvarnished account. The buffalo 
had, of course, gone close to where the lions were lying down for the day; and 
they, seeing him lame and bleeding, thought the opportunity too good a one to be 
lost. 

" Ever yours, 

" Frank Vardon." 



HIS KOAE. 157 

is in much more danger of being run over when walking in the 
streets of London, than he is of being devoured bj lions in Africa, 
unless engaged in hunting the animal. Indeed, nothing that I 
have seen or heard about lions would constitute a barrier in the 
way of men of ordinary courage and enterprise. 

The same feeling which has induced the modern painter to 
caricature the lion, has led the sentimentalist to consider the 
lion's roar the most terrific of all earthly sounds. We hear of the 
"majestic roar of the king of beasts." It is, indeed, well cal- 
culated to inspire fear if you hear it in combination with the 
tremendously loud thunder of that country, on a night so pitchy 
dark that every flash of the intensely vivid lightning leaves you 
with the impression of stone-blindness, while the rain pours down 
so fast that your fire goes out, leaving you without the protection 
of even a tree, or the chance of your gun going off. But when 
you are in a comfortable house or wagon, the case is very dif- 
ferent, and you hear the roar of the lion without any awe or alarm. 
The silly ostrich makes a noise as loud, yet he never was feared 
by man. To talk of the majestic roar of the lion is mere majes- 
tic twaddle. On my mentioning' this fact some years ago, the 
assertion was doubted, so I have been careful ever since to inquire 
the opinions of Europeans, who have heard both, if they could de- 
tect any difference between the roar of a lion and that of an ostrich; 
the invariable answer was, that they could not when the animal 
was at any distance. The natives assert that they can detect a 
variation between the commencement of the noise of each. There 
is, it must be admitted, considerable difference between the sing- 
ing noise of a lion when full, and his deep, gruff' growl when hun- 
gry. In general the lion's voice seems to come deeper from the 
chest than that of the ostrich, but to this day I can distinguish 
between them with certainty only by knowing that the ostrich 
roars by day and the lion by night. 

The African lion is of a tawny color, like that of some mas- 
tiff's. The mane in the male is large, and gives the idea of great 
power. In some lions the ends of the hair of the mane are black; 
these go by the name of black-maned lions, though as a whole 
all look of the yellow tawny color. At the time of the discovery 
of the lake, Messrs. Oswell and Wilson shot two specimens of 
another variety. One was an old lion, whose teeth were mere 



X58 LIONS AND BUFFALOES. 

stumps, and his claws worn quite Hunt ; the other was full grown, 
in the prime of life, with white, perfect teeth ; both were entirely 
destitute of mane. The lions in the country near the lake give 
tongue less than those further south. We scarcely ever heard 
them roar at all. 

The lion has other checks on inordinate increase besides man. 
He seldom attacks full-grown animals ; but frequently, when a 
buifalo calf is caught by him, the cow rushes to the rescue, and a 
toss from her often kills him. One we found was killed thus ; 
and on the Leeambye another, which died near Sesheke, had all 
the appearance of having received his death-blow from a buffalo. 
It is questionable if a single lion ever attacks a full-grown buffalo. 
The amount of roaring heard at night, on occasions when a buffalo 
is killed, seems to indicate there are always more than one lion 
engaged in the onslaught. 

On the plain, south of Sebituane's ford, a herd of buffaloes 
kept a number of lions from their young by the males turning 
their heads to the enemy. The young and the cows were in the 
rear. One toss from a bull would kill the strongest lion that 
ever breathed. I have been informed that in one part of India 
even the tame buffaloes feel their superiority to some wild ani- 
mals, for they have been seen to chase a tiger up the hills, bel- 
lowing as if they enjoyed the sport. Lions never go near any 
elephants except the calves, which, when young, are sometimes 
torn by them ; every living thing retires before the lordly ele- 
phant, yet a full-grown one would be an easier prey than the 
rhinoceros ; the lion rushes off at the mere sight of this latter 
beast. 

In the country adjacent to Mashue great numbers of different 
kinds of mice exist. The ground is often so undermined with 
their burrows that the foot sinks in at every step. Little hay- 
cocks, about two feet high, and rather more than that in breadth, 
are made by one variety of these little creatures. The same 
thing is done in regions annually covered with snow for obvious 
purposes, but it is difScult here to divine the reason of the hay- 
making in the climate of Africa."* 

* Euryotis unisulcatus (F. Cuvier), Mus pumelio (Spar.), and Mus lehocla (Smith),' 
all possess this habit in a greater or less degree. The first-iiamed may be seen 
escaping danger with its young hanging to the after-part of its body. 



SERPENTS. 161 

Wherever mice abound, serpents may be expected, for the one 
preys on the other. A cat in a house is therefore a good pre- 
ventive against the entrance of these noxious reptiles. Occasion- 
ally, however, notvt^ithstanding every precaution, they do find 
their way in, but even the most venomous sorts bite only when 
put in bodily fear themselves, or when trodden upon, or when the 
sexes come together. I once found a coil of serpents' skins, made 
by a number of them twisting together in the manner described 
by the Druids of old. When in the country, one feels nothing of 
that alarm and loathing which we may experience when sitting in 
a comfortable English room reading about them ; yet they are 
nasty things, and we seem to have an instinctive feeling against 
them. In making the door for our Mabotsa house, I happened to 
leave a small hole at the corner below\ Early one morning a 
man came to call for some article I had promised. I at once went 
t® the door, and, it being dark, trod on a serpent. The moment I 
felt the cold scaly skin twine round a part of my leg, my latent 
instinct was roused, and I jumped up higher than I ever did be- 
fore or hope to do again, shaking the reptile off in the leap. I 
probably trod on it near the head, and so prevented it biting me, 
but did not stop to examine. 

Some of the serpents are particularly venomous. One was 
killed at Kolobeng of a dark brown, nearly black color, 8 feet 3 
inches long. This species (picakholu) is so copiously supplied 
with poison that, when a number of dogs attack it, the first bitten 
dies almost instantaneously, the second in about five minutes, the 
third in an hour or so, while the fourth may live sevferal hours. 
In a cattle-pen it produces great mischief in the same way. The 
one we killed at Kolobeng continued to distill clear poison from 
the fangs for hours after its head was cut off. This was probably 
that which passes by the name of the " spitting serpent," which 
is believed to be able to eject its poison into the eyes when the 
wind favors its forcible expiration. They all require water, and 
come long distances to the Zouga, and other rivers and pools, in 
search of it. We have another dangerous serpent, the puif adder, 
and several vipers. One, named by the inhabitants " Noga-put- 
sane," or serpent of a kid, utters a cry by night exactly like the 
bleating of that animal. I heard one at a spot where no kid 



1G2 SERPENTS.— rASCINATION. 

could possibly have been. It is supposed by the natives to lure 
travelers to itself by this bleating. Several varieties, when 
alarmed, emit a peculiar odor, by which the people become 
aware of their presence in a house. We have also the cobra 
{Naia haje, Smith) of several colors or varieties. When an- 
noyed, they raise their heads up about a foot from the ground, 
and flatten the neck in a threatening manner, darting out the 
tongue and retracting it with great velocity, while their fixed 
glassy eyes glare as if in anger. There are also various species 
of the genus Dendrqphis, as the JBucephalus viridis, or green tree- 
climber. They climb trees in search of birds and eggs, and are 
soon discovered by all the birds in the neighborhood collecting 
and sounding an alarm.* Their fangs are formed not so much for 

* "As this STidikQ, Bticephalus Capensis, in our opinion, is not provided with a 
poisonous fluid to instill into wounds which these fangs may inflict, they must con- 
sequently be intended for a purpose different to those which exist in poisonous rep- 
tiles. Their use seems to be to offer obstacles to the retrogression of animals, such 
as birds, etc., while they are only partially within the mouth ; and from the circum- 
stance of these fangs being directed backward, and not admitting of being raised 
so as to form an angle with the edge of the jaw, they are well fitted to act as power- 
ful holders when once they penetrate the skin and soft parts of the prey which their 
possessors may be in the act of swallowing. Without such fangs escapes would be 
common ; with such they are rare. 

' ' The natives of South Africa regard the Bucephalus Capensis as poisonous ; but 
in their opinion we can not concur, as we have not been able to discover the exist- 
ence of any glands manifestly organized for the secretion of poison. The fangs 
are inclosed in a soft, pulpy sheath, the inner surface of which is commonly coated 
with a thin glaiiy secretion. This secretion possibly may have something acrid 
and irritating in its qualities, which may, when it enters a wound, cause pain and 
even swelling, but nothing of greater importance. 

' ' The Bucephalus Capensis is generally found on. trees, to which it resorts for 
the purpose of catching birds, upon which it delights to feed. The presence of a 
specimen in a tree is generally soon discovered by the birds of the neighborhood, 
who collect around it and fly to and fro, uttering the most piercing cries, until some 
one, more terror-struck than the rest, actually scans its lips, and, almost without re- 
sistance, becomes a meal for its enemy. During such a proceeding the snake is 
generally observed with its head raised about ten or twelve inches above the branch 
round which its body and tail are entwined, with its mouth open and its neck in- 
flated, as if anxiously endeavoring to increase the terror which it would almost ap- 
pear it was aware would sooner or later bring within its grasp some one of the feath- 
ered group. 

"Whatever may be said in ridicule of fascination, it is nevertheless true that 
birds, and even quadrupeds, are, under certain circumstances, unable to retire 
from the presence of certain of their enemies; and, what is even more extra- 



SEEPENTS. 163 

injecting poison on external objects as for keeping in any animal 
or bird of which they have got hold. In the case of the Dasy- 
peltis ino?matus (Smith), the teeth are small, and favorable for 
the passage of thin-shelled eggs without breaking. The egg is 
taken in unbroken till it is within the gullet, or about two inches 
behind the head. The gular teeth placed there break the shell 
without spilling the contents, as would be the case if the front 
teeth were large. The shell is then ejected. Others appear to 
be harmless, and even edible. Of the latter sort is the large py- 
thon, metse pallah, or tari. The largest specimens of this are 
about 15 or 20 feet in length. They are perfectly harmless, and 
live on small animals, chiefly the rodentia ; occasionally the stein- 
buck and pallah fall victims, and are sucked into its comparative- 
ly small mouth in boa-constrictor fashion. One we shot was 11 
feet 10 inches long, and as thick as a man's leg. When shot 
through the spine, it was capable of lifting itself up about Ave feet 
high, and opened its mouth in a threatening manner, but the poor 
thing was more inclined to crawl away. The flesh is much rel- 
ished by the Bakalahari and Bushmen. They carry away each 
his portion, like logs of wood, over their shoulders. 

Some of the Bayeiye we met at Sebituane's Ford pretended 
to be unaiFected by the bite of serpents, and showed the feat 
of lacerating their arms with the teeth of such as are unfur- 
nished with the poison-fangs. They also swallow the poison, 
by way of gaining notoriety ; but Dr. Andrew Smith put the sin- 
ordinary, unable to resist the propensity to advance from a situation of actual 
safety into one of the most imminent danger. This I have often seen exempli- 
fied in the case of birds and snakes ; and I have heard of instances equally curi- 
ous, in which antelopes and other quadrupeds have been so bewildered by the sud- 
den appearance of crocodiles, and by the grimaces and contortions they practiced, 
as to be unable to fly or even move from the spot toward which they were approach- 
ing to seize them." — Dr. Andrew Smith's " Eeptilia." 

In addition to these interesting statements of the most able naturalist from 
whom I have taken this note, it may be added that fire exercises a fascinating 
efffect on some kinds of toads. They may be seen rushing into it in the even- 
ings without ever starting back on feeling pain. Contact with the hot embers 
rather increases the energy with which they strive to gain the hottest parts, and 
they never cease their struggles for the centre even when their juices are co- 
agulating and their limbs stiffening in the roasting heat. Various insects, also, 
are thus fascinated ; but the scorpions may be seen coming away from the fire 
in fierce disgust, and they are so irritated as to inflict at that time their most pain- 
ful stings. 



164 THE "SECHU." 

ceritj of such persons to the test by offering them the fangs of 
a really poisonous variety, and found they shrank from the ex- 
periment. 

When we reached the Bamangwato, the chief, Sekomi, was par- 
ticularly friendly, collected all his people to the religious services 
we held, and explained his reasons for compelling some English- 
men to pay him a horse. " They would not sell him any pow- 
der, though they had plenty ; so he compelled them to give it and 
the horse for nothing. He would not deny the extortion to me ; 
that would be ' boherehere' (swindling)." He thus thought ex- 
tortion better than swindling. I could not detect any difference 
in the morality of the two transactions, but Sekorai's ideas of 
honesty are the lowest I have met with in any Bechuana chief, 
and this instance is mentioned as the only approach to demand- 
ing payment for leave to pass that I have met with in the south. 
In all other cases the difficulty has been to get a chief to give us 
men to show the way, and the payment has only been for guides. 
Englishmen have always very properly avoided giving that idea 
to the native mind which we shall hereafter find prove trouble- 
some, that payment ought to be made for passage through a 
country. 

All the Bechuana and Caffre tribes south of the Zambesi 
practice circumcision {boguera), but the rites observed are care- 
fully concealed. The initiated alone can approach, but in this 
town I was once a spectator of the second part of the ceremony 
of the circumcision, called "sechu." Just at the dawn of day, 
a row of boys of nearly fourteen years of age stood naked in 
the kotla, each having a pair of sandals as a shield on his hands. 
Facing: them stood the men of the town in a similar state of nu- 
dity, all armed with long thin wands, of a tough, strong, supple 
bush called moretloa {Grewia flava), and engaged in a dance 
named " koha," in which questions are put to the boys, as " Will 
you guard the chief well?" "Will you herd the cattle well?" 
and, while the latter give an affirmative response, the men rush 
forward to them, and each aims a full-weight blow at the back of 
one of the boys. Shielding himself with the sandals above his 
head, he causes the supple wand to descend and bend into his 
back, and every stroke inflicted thus makes the blood squirt out 
of a wound a foot or eighteen inches long. At the end of the 



THE "BOGUERA." 165 

dance, the boys' backs are seamed with wounds and weals, the 
scars of which remain through life. This is intended to harden 
the young soldiers, and prepare them for the rank of men. After 
this ceremony, and after killing a rhinoceros, they may marry a 
wife. 

In the "koha" the same respect is shown to age as in many 
other of their customs. A younger man, rushing from the ranks 
to exercise his wand on the backs of the youths, may be him- 
self the object of chastisement by the older, and, on the occasion 
referred to, Sekomi received a severe cut on the leg from one of 
his gray-haired people. On my joking with some of the young 
men on their want of courage, notwithstanding all the beatings 
of which they bore marks, and hinting that our soldiers were 
brave without suffering so much, one rose up and said, "Ask 
him if, when he and I were compelled by a lion to stop and make 
a fire, I did not lie down and sleep as well as himself." In other 
parts a challenge to try a race would have been given, and you 
may frequently see grown men adopting that means of testing 
superiority, like so many children. 

The sechu is practiced by three tribes only. Boguera is ob- 
served by all the Bechuanas and Caffres, but not by the negro 
tribes beyond 20° south. The -" boguera" is a civil rather than 
a religious rite. All the boys of an age between ten and four- 
teen or fifteen are selected to be the companions for life of one 
of the sons of the chief. They are taken out to some retired 
spot in the forest, and huts are erected for their accommodation ; 
the old men go out and teach them to dance, initiating them, 
at the same time, into all the mysteries of African politics and 
government. Each one is expected to compose an oration in 
praise of himself, called a "leina" or name, and to be able to 
repeat it with sufiicient fluency. A good deal of beating is 
required to bring them up to the required excellency in different 
matters, so that, when they return from the close seclusion in 
which they are kept, they have generally a number of scars 
to show on their backs. These bands or regiments, named 
mepato in the plural and mopato in the singular, receive par- 
ticular appellations ; as, the Matsatsi — the suns ; the Mabusa — 
the rulers ; equivalent to our Coldstreams or Enniskillens ; and, 
though living in different parts of the town, they turn out at the 



166 CEREMONIES OF AFRICAN TRIBES. 

call, and act under the chiefs son as their commander. They 
recognize a sort of equality and partial communism ever after- 
ward, and address each other by the title of molekane or com- 
rade. In cases of offence against their rules, as eating alone 
when any of their comrades are within call, or in cases of 
cowardice or dereliction of duty, they may strike one another, 
or any member of a younger mopato, but never any one of an 
older band; and when three or four companies have been made, 
the oldest no longer takes the field in time of war, but remains 
as a guard over the women and children. When a fugitive 
comes to a tribe, he is directed to the mopato analogous to 
that to which in his own tribe he belongs, and does duty as a 
member. No one of the natives knows how old he is. If asked 
his age, he answers by putting another question, "Does a man 
remember when he was born ?" Age is reckoned by the 
number of mepato they have seen pass through the formulae 
of admission. When they see four or five mepato younger than 
themselves, they are no longer obliged to bear arms. The oldest 
individual I ever met boasted he had seen eleven sets of boys 
submit to the boguera. Supposing him to have been fifteen 
when he saw his own, and fresh bands were added every six or 
seven years, he must have been about forty when he saw the 
fifth, and may have attained seventy-five or eighty years, which 
is no great age ; but it seemed so to them, for he had now 
doubled the age for superannuation among them. It is an 
ingenious plan for attaching the members of the tribe to the 
chiefs family, and for imparting a discipline which renders the 
tribe easy of command. On their return to the town from attend- 
ance on the ceremonies of initiation, a prize is given to the lad 
who can run fastest, the article being placed where all may see 
the winner run up to snatch it. They are then considered men 
(banona, viri), and can sit among the elders in the kotla. For- 
merly they were only boys (basimane, pueri). The first mis- 
sionaries set their faces against the boguera, on account of its 
connection with heathenism, and the fact that the youths learned 
much evil, and became disobedient to their parents. From the 
general success of these men, it is perhaps better that younger 
missionaries should tread in their footsteps ; for so much evil 
may result from breaking down the authority on which, to those 



"BOYALE."— BAMANGWATO HILLS. 167 

who can not read, the whole system of our influence appears to 
rest, that innovators ought to be made to propose their new 
measures as the Locrians did new laws — with ropes around their 
necks. 

Probably the "boguera" was only a sanitary and political 
measure ; and there being no continuous chain of tribes practicing 
the rite between the Arabs and the Bechuanas, or Caffres, and as 
it is not a religious ceremony, it can scarcely be traced, as is often 
done, to a Mohammedan source. 

A somewhat analogous ceremony (boyale) takes place for young 
women, and the protegees appear abroad drilled under the surveil- 
lance of an old lady to the carrying of water. They are clad dur- 
ing the whole time in a dress composed of ropes made of alternate 
pumpkin-seeds and bits of reed strung together, and wound round 
the body in a iigure-of-eight fashion. They are inured in this 
way to bear fatigue, and carry large pots of water under the guid- 
ance of the stern old hag. They have often scars from bits of 
burning charcoal having been applied to the forearm, which must 
have been done to test their power of bearing pain. 

The Bamangwato hills are part of the range called Bakaa. 
The Bakaa tribe, however, removed to Kolobeng, and is now 
joined to that of Sechele. The range stands about 700 or 800 
feet above the plains, and is composed of great masses of black 
basalt. It is probably part of the latest series of volcanic rocks 
in South Africa. At the eastern end these hills have curious 
fungoid or cup-shaped hollows, of a size which suggests tlie idea 
of craters. Within these are masses of the rock crystallized in 
the columnar form of this formation. The tops of tlie columns 
are quite distinct, of the hexagonal form, like the bottom of the 
cells of a honeycomb, but they are not parted from each other as 
in the Cave of Fingal. In many parts the l«,va-streams may be 
recognized, for there the rock is rent and split in every direction, 
but no soil is yet found in the interstices. When we were sitting 
in the evening, after a hot day, it was quite common to hear 
these masses of basalt split and fall among each other with the 
peculiar ringing sound which makes people believe that this rock 
contains much iron. Several large masses, in splitting thus by 
the cold acting suddenly on parts expanded by the heat of the 
day, h^ve slipped down the sides of the hills, and, impinging 



168 THE UNICORN'S PASS. 

against each other, have formed cavities in which the Bakaa took 
refuge against their enemies. The numerous chinks and crannies 
left by these huge fragments made it quite impossible for their en- 
emies to smoke them out, as was done by the Boers to the people 
of Mankopane. 

This mass of basalt, about six miles long, has tilted up the 
rocks on both the east and west ; these upheaved rocks are the 
ancient silurian schists which formed the bottom of the great 
primgeval valley, and, like all the recent volcanic rocks of this 
country, have a hot fountain in their vicinity, namely, that of Seri- 
nane. 

In passing through these hills on our way north we enter a 
pass named Manakalongwe, or Unicorn's Pass. The unicorn 
here is a large edible caterpillar, with an erect, horn -like tail. 
The pass was also called Porapora (or gurgling of water), from a 
stream having run through it. The scene must have been very 
different in former times from what it is now. This is part of 
the Eiver Mahalapi, which so-called river scarcely merits the 
name, any more than the meadows of Edinburgh deserve the 
title of North Loch. These hills are the last we shall see for 
months. The country beyond consisted of large patches of trap- 
covered tufa, having little soil or vegetation except tufts of 
grass and wait-a-bit thorns, in the midst of extensive sandy, 
grass-covered plains. These yellow-colored, grassy plains, with 
moretloa and mahatla bushes, form quite a characteristic feature 
of the country. The yellow or dun-color prevails during a great 
part of the year. The Bakwain hills are an exception to the 
usual flat surface, for they are covered with green trees to their 
tops, and the valleys are often of the most lovely green. The 
trees are larger too, and even the plains of the Bakwain country 
contain trees instead of bushes. If you look north from the hills 
we are now leaving, the country partakes of this latter character. 
It appears as if it were a flat covered with a forest of ordinary- 
sized trees from 20 to 30 feet high, but when you travel over it 
they are not so closely planted but that a wagon with care may 
be guided among them. The grass grows in tufts of the size of 
one's hat, with bare soft sand between. Nowhere here have we 
an approach to English lawns, or the pleasing appearance of En- 
glish greensward. 



MR. GORDON GUMMING. 169 

In no part of this country could European grain be cultivated 
without irrigation. The natives all cultivate the dourrha or 
holcus sorghum, maize, pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, and dif- 
ferent kinds of beans ; and they are entirely dependent for the 
growth of these on rains. Their instrument of culture is the 
hoe, and the chief labor falls on the female portion of the com- 
munity. In this respect the Bechuanas closely resemble the 
Caffres. The men engage in hunting, milk the cows, and have 
the entire control of the cattle ; they prepare the skins, make 
the clothing, and in many respects may be considered a nation of 
tailors. 

When at Sekomi's we generally have heard his praises sounded 
by a man who rises at break of day, and utters at the top of his 
voice the oration which that ruler is said to have composed at his 
boguera. This repetition of his " leina," or oration, is so pleas- 
ing to a chief, that he generally sends a handsome present to the 
man who does it. 

January 1'^th. Passing on to Letloche, about twenty miles 
beyond the Bamangwato, we found a fine supply of water. This 
is a point of so much interest in that country that the first ques- 
tion we ask of passers by is, "Have you had water?" the first 
inquiry a native puts to a fellow-countryman is, " Where is the 
rain ?" and, though they are by no means an untruthful nation, 
the answer generally is, "I don't know — there is none — we are 
killed with hunger and by the sun." If news is asked for, they 
commence with, " There is no news : I heard some lies only," and 
then tell all they know. 

This spot was Mr. Gordon Cumming's furthest station north. 
Our house at Kolobeng having been quite in the hunting- 
country, rhinoceros and buffaloes several times rushed past, and 
I was able to shoot the latter twice from our own door. We 
were favored by visits from this famous hunter during each of 
the five years of his warfare with wild animals. Many English 
gentlemen following the same pursuits paid their guides and 
assistants so punctually that in making arrangements for them 
we had to be careful that four did not go where two only were 
wanted : they knew so well that an Englishman would pay that 
they depended implicitly on his word of honor, and not only 
would they go and hunt for five or six months in the north. 



170 SPOETING. 

enduring all the hardships of that trying mode of life, with little 
else but meat of game to subsist on, but they willingly went seven 
hundred or eight hundred miles to Graham's Town, receiving for 
wages only a musket worth fifteen shillings. 

No one ever deceived them except one man ; and as I believed 
that he was afflicted with a slight degree of the insanity of greedi- 
ness, I upheld the honor of the English name by paying his 
debts. As the guides of Mr. Gumming were furnished through 
my influence, and usually got some strict charges as to their 
behavior before parting, looking upon me in the light of a fa- 
ther, they always came to give me an account of their service, 
and told most of those hunting adventures which have since been 
given to the world, before we had the pleasure of hearing our 
friend relate them himself by our own fireside. I had thus a 
tolerably good opportunity of testing their accuracy, and I have 
no hesitation in saying that for those who love that sort of thing 
Mr. Cumming's book conveys a truthful idea of South African 
hunting. Some things in it require explanation, but the numbers 
of animals said to have been met with and killed are by no 
means improbable, considering the amount of large game then in 
the country. Two other gentlemen hunting in the same region 
destroyed in one season no fewer than seventy-eight rhinoceroses 
alone. Sportsmen, however, would not now find an equal num- 
ber, for as guns are introduced among the tribes all these fine 
animals melt away like snow in spring. In the more remote 
districts, where fire-arms have not yet been introduced, with the 
single exception of the rhinoceros, the game is to be found in 
numbers much greater than Mr. Gumming ever saw. The tsetse 
is, however, an insuperable barrier to hunting with horses there, 
and Europeans can do nothing on foot. The step of the elephant 
when charging the hunter, though apparently not quick, is so 
long that the pace equals the speed of a good horse at a canter. 
A young sportsman, no matter how great among pheasants, foxes, 
and hounds, would do well to pause before resolving to brave 
fever for the excitement of risking such a terrific charge ; the 
scream or trumpeting of this enormous brute when infuriated is 
more like what the shriek of a French steam-whistle would be to 
a man standing on the dangerous part of a rail-road than any 
other- earthly sound : a horse unused to it will sometimes stand 



SCARCITY OF WATER.— THE OSTRICH. I71 

shivering instead of taking his rider out of danger. It has hap- 
pened often that the poor animal's legs do their duty so badly 
that he falls and causes his rider to be trodden into a mummy ; 
or, losing his presence of mind, the rider may allow the horse to 
dash under a tree and crack his cranium against a branch. As 
one charge from an elephant has made embryo Nimrods bid a 
final adieu to the chase, incipient Gordon Cummings might try 
their nerves by standing on railways till the engines were within 
a few yards of them. Hunting elephants on foot would be not 
less dangerous,* unless the Ceylon mode of killing them by one 
shot could be followed : it has never been tried in Africa. 

Advancing to some wells beyond Letloche, at a spot named 
Kanne, we found them carefully hedged round by the people of 
a Bakalahari village situated near the spot. We had then sixty 
miles of country in front without water, and very distressing for 
the oxen, as it is generally deep soft sand. There is one suck- 
ing-place, around which were congregated great numbers of Bush- 
women with their egg-shells and reeds. Mathuluane now con- 
tained no water, and Motlatsa only a small supply, so we sent 
the oxen across the country to the deep well Nkauane, and half 
were lost on the way. When found at last they had been five 
whole days without water. Very large numbers of elands were 
met with as usual, though they seldom can get a sip of drink. 
Many of the plains here have large expanses of grass without 
trees, but you seldom see a treeless horizon. The dstrich is 
generally seen quietly feeding on some spot where no one can 
approach him without being detected by his wary eye. As the 
wagon moves along far to the windward he thinks it is intend- 
ing to circumvent him, so he rushes up a mile or so from the lee- 
ward, and so near to the front oxen that one sometimes gets a 
shot at the silly bird. When he begins to run all the game in 
sight follow his example. I have seen this folly taken advantage 
of when he was feeding quietly in a valley open at both ends. A 
number of men would commence running, as if to cut ofi" his re- 
treat from the end through which the wind came ; and although 
he had the whole country hundreds of miles before him by going 

* Since writing the above statement, it has received confirmation in the 
reported death of Mr. Walhberg while hunting elephants on foot at Lake 

Ncranii. 



172 THE OSTEICH. 

to the other end, on he madly rushed to get past the men, and so 
was speared. He never swerves from the course he once adopts, 
but only increases his speed. 

When the ostrich is feeding his pace is from twenty to twenty- 
two inches; when walking, but not feeding, it is twenty -six 
inches; and when terrified, as in the case noticed, it is from 
eleven and a half to thirteen and even fourteen feet in length. 
Only in one case was I at all satisfied of being able to count the 
rate of speed by a stop-watch, and, if I am not mistaken, there 
were thirty in ten seconds ; generally one's eye can no more fol- 
low the legs than it can the spokes of a carriage-wheel in rapid 
motion. If we take the above number, and twelve feet stride as 
the average pace, we have a speed of twenty-six miles an hour. 
It can not be very much above that, and is therefore slower than 
a railway locomotive. They are sometimes shot by the horseman 
making a cross cut to their undeviating course, but few English- 
men ever succeed in killing them. 

The ostrich begins to lay her eggs before she has fixed on a 
spot for a nest, which is only a hollow a few inches deep in the 
sand, and about a yard in diameter. Solitary eggs, named by the 
Bechuanas "lesetla," are thus found lying forsaken all over the 
country, and become a prey to the jackal. She seems averse to 
risking a spot for a nest, and often lays her eggs in that of an- 
other ostrich, so that as many as forty-five have been found in one 
nest. Some eggs contain small concretions of the matter which 
forms the shell, as occurs also in the egg of the common fowl : 
this has given rise to the idea of stones in the eggs. Both male 
and female assist in the incubations ; but the numbers of females 
being always greatest, it is probable that cases occur in which 
the females liave the entire charge. Several eggs lie out of the 
nest, and are thought to be intended as food for the first of the 
newly-hatched brood till the rest come out and enable the whole 
to start in quest of food. I have several times seen newly-hatch- 
ed young in charge of the cock, who made a very good attempt 
at appearing lame in the plover fashion, in order to draw off the 
attention of pursuers. The young squat down and remain im- 
movable when too small to run far, but attain a wonderful degree 
of speed when about the size of common fowls. It can not be 
asserted that ostriches are polygamous, though they often appear 



THE OSTRICH. X73 

to be so. When caught they are easily tamed, but are of no use 
in their domesticated state. 

The egg is possessed of very great vital power. One kept in 
a room during more than three months, in a temperature about 
60°, when broken was found to have a partially-developed live 
chick in it. The Bushmen carefully avoid touching the eggs, or 
leaving marks of human feet near them, when they find a nest. 
They go up the wind to the spot, and with a long stick remove 
some of them occasionally, and, by preventing any suspicion, keep 
the hen laying on for months, as we do with fowls. The eggs 
have a strong, disagreeable flavor, which only the keen appetite of 
the Desert can reconcile one to. The Hottentots use their trow- 
sers to carry home the twenty or twenty-five eggs usually found 
in a nest ; and it has happened that an Englishman, intending to 
imitate this knowing dodge, comes to the wagons with blistered 
legs, and, after great toil, finds all the eggs uneatable, from having 
been some time sat upon. Our countrymen invariably do best 
when they continue to think, speak, and act in their own proper 
character. 

The food of the ostrich consists of pods and seeds of different 
kinds of leguminous plants, with leaves of various plants ; and, as 
these are often hard and dry, he picks up a great quantity of 
pebbles, many of which are as large as marbles. He picks up 
also some small bulbs, and occasionally a wild melon to afford 
moisture, for one was found with a melon which had choked him 
by sticking in his throat. It require's the utmost address of the 
Bushmen, crawling for miles on their stomachs, to stalk them 
successfully; yet the quantity of feathers collected annually 
shows that the numbers slain must be considerable, as each bird 
has only a few in the wings and tail. The male bird is of a jet 
black glossy color, with the single exception of the white feath- 
ers, which are objects of trade. Nothing can be finer than the 
adaptation of those flossy feathers for the climate of the Kala- 
hari, where these birds abound ; for they afford a perfect shade 
to the body, with free ventilation beneath them. The hen os- 
trich is of a dark brownish-gray color, and so are the half-grown 
cocks. 

The organs of vision in this bird are placed so high that he can 
detect an enemy at a great distance, but the lion sometimes kills 



174 THE OSTRICH. 

him. The flesh is white and coarse, though, when in good con- 
dition, it resembles in some degree that of a tough turkey. It 
seeks safety in flight ; hut when pursued by dogs it may be seen 
to turn upon them and inflict a kick, which is vigorously applied, 
and sometimes breaks the dog's back. 



EFFECTS OF MISSIONARY EFFORTS. 175 



CHAPTER VIII. 

EfFects of Missionary Efforts. — Belief in the Deity, — Ideas of the Bakwains on Re- 
ligion. — Departure from their Country. — Salt-pans. — Sour Curd. — Nchokotsa. — 
Bitter Waters. — Thirst suffered by the wild Animals. — Wanton Cruelty in Hunt- 
ing. — Ntwetwe. — Mowana-trees. — Their extraordinary Vitality. — The Mopane- 
tree. — The Morala. — The Bushmen. — Their Superstitions. — Elephant-hunting. — 
Superiority of civilized over barbarous Sportsmen. — The Chief Kaisa. — His Fear 
of Responsibility. — Beauty of the Country at Unku. — The Mohonono Bush. — 
Severe Labor in cutting our Way. — Party seized with Fever. — Escape of our 
Cattle. — Bakwain Mode of recapturing them. — Vagaries of sick Servants. — Dis- 
covery of grape-bearing Vines. — An Ant-eater. — Difficulty of passing through 
the Forest.— Sickness of my Companion. — The Bushmen. — Their Mode of de- 
stroying Lions. — Poisons. — The solitary Hill. — A picturesque Valley. — Beauty 
of the Country. — Arrive at the Sanshureh River. — The flooded Prairies. — A 
pontooning Expedition. — A night Bivouac. — The Chobe. — Arrive at the Village 
of Moremi. — Surprise of the Makololo at our sudden Appearance. — Cross the 
Chobe on our way to Linyanti. 

The Bakalaliari, who live at Motlatsa wells, have always been 
very friendly to us, and listen attentively to instruction conveyed 
to them in their own tongue. It is, however, difficult to give 
an idea to a European of the little effect teaching produces, 
because no one can realize the degradation to which their minds 
have been sunk by centuries of barbarism and hard struggling for 
the necessaries of life : like most others, they listen with respect 
and attention, but, when we kneel down and address an unseen 
Being, the position and the act often appear to theip so ridicu- 
lous that they can not refrain from bursting into uncontrollable 
laughter. After a few services they get over this tendency. I 
was once present when a missionary attempted to sing among a 
wild heathen tribe of Bechuanas, who had no music in their com- 
position ; the effect on the risible faculties of the audience was 
such that the tears actually ran down their cheeks. Nearly, all 
their thoughts are directed to the supply of their bodily wants, 
and this has been the case with the race for ages. If asked, then, 
what effect the preaching of the Gospel has at the commence- 
ment on such individuals, I am unable to tell, except that some 



X76 KELIGIOUS IDEAS OF BAKWAINS. 

have confessed long afterward that they then first "began to pray 
in secret. Of the effects of a lono'-continued course of instruction 

o 

there can be no reasonable doubt, as mere nominal belief has 
never been considered sufficient proof of conversion by any body 
of missionaries ; and, after the change which has been brought 
about by this agency, we have good reason to hope well for the 
future — those I have myself witnessed behaving in the manner 
described, when kindly treated in sickness often utter imploring 
words to Jesus, and I believe sometimes really do pray to him 
in their afflictions. As that great Redeemer of the guilty seeks 
to save all he can, we may hope that they find mercy through 
His blood, though little able to appreciate the sacrifice He made. 
The indirect and scarcely appreciable blessings of Christian mis- 
sionaries going about doing good are thus probably not so despi- 
cable as some might imagine ; there is no necessity for beginning 
to tell even the most degraded of these people of the existence of 
a God or of a future state, the facts being universally admitted. 
Every thing that can not be accounted for by common causes is 
ascribed to the Deity, as creation, sudden death, etc. "How 
curiously God made these things!" is a common expression; as 
is also, "He was not killed by disease, he was killed by God." 
And, when speaking of the departed — though there is naught in 
the physical appearance of the dead to justify the expression — • 
they say, " He has gone to the gods," the phrase being identical 
with " ahiit ad jplures.'''' 

On questioning intelligent men among the Bakwains as to 
their former knowledge of good and evil, of God and the future 
state, they have scouted the idea of any of them ever having 
been without a tolerably clear conception on all these subjects. 
Respecting their sense of right and wrong, they profess that 
nothing we indicate as sin ever appeared to them as otherwise, 
except the statement that it was wrong to have more wives than 
one; and they declare that they spoke in the same way of the 
direct influence exercised by God in giving rain in answer to 
prayers of the rain-makers, and in granting deliverances in times 
of danger, as they do now, before they ever heard of white men. 
The want, however, of any form of public worship, or of idols, or 
of formal prayers or sacrifice, make both CafFres and Bechuanas 
appear as among the most godless races of mortals known any 



LEAVE BAKWAIN COUNTRY. 177 

where. But, though they all possess a distinct knowledge of a 
deity and of a future state, they show so little reverence, and feel 
so little connection with either, that it is not surprising that some 
have supposed them entirely ignorant on the subject. At Lotla- 
kani we met an old Bushman who at first seemed to have no 
conception of morality whatever ; when his heart was warmed hj 
our presents of meat, he sat by the fire relating his early adven- 
tures : among these was killing five other Bushmen. " Two," 
said he, counting on his fingers, " were females, one a male, and 
the other two calves." " What a villain you are, to boast of kill- 
ing women and children of your own nation ! what will God say 
when you appear before him?" "He will say," replied he, " that 
I was a very clever fellow." This man now appeared to me as 
without any conscience, and, of course, responsibility ; but, on 
trying to enlighten him by further conversation, I discovered that, 
though he was employing the word that is used among the Bak- 
wains when speaking of the Deity, he had only the idea of a chief, 
and was all the while referring to Sekomi, while his victims were 
a party of rebel Bushmen against whom he had been sent. If I 
had known the name of God in the Bushman tongue the mistake 
could scarcely have occurred. It must, however, be recollected, 
while reflecting on the degradation of the natives of South Afirica, 
that the farther north, the more distinct do the native ideas on re- 
ligious subjects become, and I have not had any intercourse with 
either CafFres or Bushmen in their own tongues. 

Leaving Motlatsa on the 8th of February, 1853, we passed down 
the Mokoko, which, in the memory of persons now living, was a 
flowing stream. We ourselves once saw a heavy thunder-show- 
er make it assume its ancient appearance of running to the north. 
Between Lotlakani and Nchokotsa we passed the small well 
named Orapa; and another called Thutsa lay a little to our 
right — its water is salt and purgative ; the salt-pan Chuantsa, 
having a cake of salt one inch and a half in thickness, is about 
ten miles to the northeast of Orapa. This deposit contains a 
bitter salt in addition, probably the nitrate of lime ; the natives, 
in order to render it palatable and wholesome, mix the salt with 
the juice of a gummy plant, then place it in the sand and bake it 
by making a fire over it ; the lime then becomes insoluble and 
tasteless. 

M 



178 NCIIOKOTSA.— BITTER WATEES. 

The Bamangwato keep large flocks of sheep and goats at vari- 
ous spots on this side of the Desert, They thrive wonderfully 
well wherever salt and bushes are to be found. The milk of goats 
does not coagulate with facility, like that of cows, on account of 
its richness ; but the natives have discovered that the infusion 
of the fruit of a solanaceous plant, Toluane, quickly produces the 
effect. The Bechuanas put their milk into sacks made of untan- 
ned hide, with the hair taken off. Hung in the sun, it soon coag- 
ulates ; the whey is then drawn off by a plug at the bottom, and 
fresh milk added, until the sack is full of a thick, sour curd, which, 
when one becomes used to it, is delicious. The rich mix this in 
the porridge into which they convert their meal, and, as it is thus 
rendered nutritious and strength-giving, an expression of scorn 
is sometimes heard respecting the poor or weak, to the effect that 
"they are water-porridge men." It occupies the place of our 
roast beef. 

At Nchokotsa, the rainy season having this year been delayed 
beyond the usual time, we found during the day the thermom- 
eter stand at 96° in the coolest possible shade. This height at 
Kolobeng always portended rain at hand. At Kuruman, when 
it rises above 84°, the same phenomenon may be considered 
near ; while farther north it rises above 100° before the cooling 
influence of the evaporation from rain may be expected. Here 
the bulb of the thermometer, placed two inches beneath the 
soil, stood at 128°. All around Nchokotsa the country looked 
parched, and the glare from the white efflorescence which covers 
the extensive pans on all sides was most distressing to the eyes. 
The water of Nchokotsa was bitter, and presented indications 
not to be mistaken of having passed through animal systems 
before. All these waters contain nitrates, which stimulate the 
kidneys and increase the thirst. The fresh additions of water 
required in cooking meat, each imparting its own portion of salt, 
make one grumble at the cook for putting too much seasoning 
in, while in fact he has put in none at all, except that contained 
in the water. Of bitter, bad, disgusting waters I have drunk not 
a few nauseous draughts ; you may try alum, vitriol, boiling, 
etc., etc., to convince yourself that you are not more stupid than 
travelers you will meet at home, but the ammonif? and other 



CEUELTY OF HUNTERS. 179 

salts are there still ; and the only remedy is to get away as quick- 
ly as possible to the north. 

We dug out several wells ; and as we had on each occasion to 
wait till the water flowed in again, and then allow our cattle to 
feed a day or two and slake their thirst thoroughly, as far as 
that could be done, before starting, our progress was but slow. 
At Koobe there was such a mass of mud in the pond, worked up 
by the wallowing rhinoceros to the consistency of mortar, that 
only by great labor could we get a space cleared at one side 
for the water to ooze through and collect in for the oxen. Should 
the rhinoceros come back, a single roll in the great mass we had 
thrown on one side would have rendered all our labor vain. It 
was therefore necessary for us to guard the spot at night. On 
these great flats all around we saw in the white sultry glare 
herds of zebras, gnus, and occasionally bufikloes, standing for 
days, looking wistfully toward the wells for a share of the nasty 
water. It is mere wanton cruelty to take advantage of the ne- 
cessities of these poor animals, and shoot them down one after 
another, without intending to make the smallest use of either the 
flesia, skins, or horns. In shooting by night, animals are more 
frequently wounded than killed ; the flowing life-stream increases 
the thirst, so that in desperation they come slowly up to drink 
in spite of the danger, " I must drink, though I die." The ostrich, 
even when not wounded, can not, with all his wariness, resist the 
excessive desire to slake his burning thirst. It is Bushman-like 
practice to take advantage of its piteous necessities, for most of 
the feathers they obtain are procured in this way ; but they eat 
the flesh, and are so far justifiable. 

I could not order my men to do what I would not do myself; 
but, though I tried to justify myself on the plea of necessity, 
I could not adopt this mode of hunting. If your object is to 
secure the best specimens for a museum, it may be allowable, and 
even deserving of commendation, as evincing a desire to kill only 
those really wanted ; but if, as has been practiced by some 
Griquas and others who came into the country after Mr. Gum- 
ming, and fired away indiscriminately, great numbers of animals 
are wounded and allowed to perish miserably, or are killed on 
the spot and left to be preyed on by vultures and hyenas, and 
all for ^e sole purpose of making a " bag," then I take it to be 



130 VITALITY OF THE MOWANA-TEEE, 

evident that such, sportsmen are pretty far gone in the hunting 
form of insanity. 

My men shot a black rhinoceros in this way, and I felt glad to 
get away from the only place in which I ever had any share in 
night-hunting. We passed over the immense pan Ntwetwe, on 
which the latitude could he taken as at sea. Great tracts of 
this part of the country are of calcareous tufa, with only a thin 
coating of soil; numbers of "baobab" and "mopane" trees 
abound all over this hard, smooth surface. About two miles 
beyond the northern bank of the pan we unyoked under a 
fine specimen of the baobab, here called, in the language of 
Bechuanas, Mowana ; it consisted of six branches united into one 
trunk. At three feet from the ground it was eighty-five feet in 
circumference. 

These mowana-trees are the most wonderful examples of vitality 
in the country ; it was therefore with surprise that we came upon 
a dead one at Tlomtla, a few miles beyond this spot. It is the 
same as those wlijich Adamson and others believed, from speci- 
mens seen in Western Africa, to have been alive before the flood. 
Arguing with a peculiar mental idiosyncracy resembling color- 
blindness, common among the French of the time, these savans 
came to the conclusion that "therefore there never was any flood 
at all." I would back a true mowana against a dozen floods, pro- 
vided you do not boil it in hot sea-water ; but I can not believe 
that any of those now alive had a chance of being subjected to 
the experiment of even the Noachian deluge. The natives make 
a strong cord from the fibres contained in the pounded bark. 
The whole of the trunk, as high as they can reach, is consequently 
often quite denuded of its covering, which in the case of almost 
any other tree would cause its death, but this has no effect on the 
mowana except to make it throw out a new bark, which is done 
in the way of granulation. This stripping of the bark is repeated 
frequently, so that it is common to see the lower five or six feet an 
inch or two less in diameter than the parts above; even portions of 
the bark which have broken in the process of being taken off, but 
remain separated from the parts below, though still connected with 
the tree above, continue to grow, and resemble closely marks made 
in the necks of the cattle of the island of Mull and of Cafire oxen, 
where a piece of skin is detached and allowed to hang down. No 



VITALITY OF THE MOWANA-TREE. 181 

external injury, not even a fire, can destroy this tree from with- 
out ; nor can any injury be done from within, as it is quite com- 
mon to find it hollow ; and I have seen one in which twenty or 
thirty men could lie down and sleep as in a hut. Nor does cut- 
ting down exterminate it, for I saw instances in Angola in which 
it continued to grow in length after it was lying on the ground. 
Those trees called exogenous grow by means of successive layers 
on the outside. The inside may be dead, or even removed alto- 
gether, without afiecting the life of the tree. This is the case 
with most of the trees of our climate. The other class is called 
endogenous, and increases by layers applied to the inside ; and 
when the hollow there is full, the growth is stopped — the tree must 
die. Any injury is felt most severely by the first class on the 
bark ; by the second on the inside ; while the inside of the exo- 
genous may be removed, and the outside of the endogenous may 
be cut, without stopping the growth in the least. The mowana 
possesses the powers of both. The reason is that each of the 
laminffi possesses its own independent vitality ; in fact, the baobob 
is rather a gigantic bulb run up to seed than a tree. Each of 
eighty-four concentric rings had, in the case mentioned, grown an 
mch after the tree had been blown over. The roots, which may 
often be observed extending along the surface of the ground forty 
or fifty yards from the trunk, also retain their vitality after the 
tree is laid low ; and the Portuguese now know that the best way 
to treat them is to let them alone, for they occupy much more 
room when cut down than when growing. 

The wood is so spongy and soft that an axe can be struck in 
so far with a good blow that there is great difficulty in pulling it 
out again. In the dead mowana mentioned the concentric rings 
were well seen. The average for a foot at three different places 
was eighty-one and a half of these rings. Each of the lamina3 
can be seen to be composed of two, three, or four layers of ligne- 
ous tubes ; but supposing each ring the growth of one year, and 
the semidiameter of a mowana of one hundred feet in circumfer- 
ence about seventeen feet, if the central point were in the centre 
of the tree, then its age would lack some centuries of being as old 
as the Christian era (1400). Though it possesses amazing vital- 
ity, it is difficult to believe that this great baby-looking bulb or 
tree is as old as the Pyramids. 



182 THE MOPANE-TREE. 

The mopane-tree {hauhinia) is remarkable for tlie little shade 
its leaves afford. They fold together and stand nearly perpen- 




Mopane or bauliinia leaves, -with the insect and its edible secretions. 

dicular during the heat of the day, so that only the shadow of 
their edges comes to the ground. On these leaves the small lar- 
vas of a winged insect appear covered over with a sweet, gummy 
substance. The people collect this in great quantities, and use it 
as food;* and the lopane — large caterpillars three inches long, 
which feed on the leaves, and are seen strung together — share the 
same fate. 

* I am favored witli Mr. "W'estwood's remarks on this insect as follows: 

" Taylor Institution, Oxford, July 9, 1857. 
" The insect (and its secretion) on the leaves of the hauhinia, and which is eat- 
en by the Africans, proves to be a species of Psylla, a genus of small, very active 
Homoptera, of which we have one very common species in the box ; but our spe- 
cies, Psylla buxi, emits its secretion in the shape of very long, white, cotton-like 
filaments. But .there is a species in New Holland, found on the leaves of the Eu- 
calyptus, which emits a secretion very similar to that of Dr. Livingstonfe's species. 
This Australian secretion (and its insect originator) is known by the name of wo- 
me-la, and, like Dr. Livingstone's, it is scraped off the leaves and eaten by the abo- 
rigines as a saccharine dainty. The insects found beneath the secretion, brought 
home by Dr. Livingstone, are in the pupa state, being flattened, with large scales 
at the sides of the body, inclosing the future wings of the insect. The body is 
pale yellowish-colored, with dark-brown spots. It will be impossible to describe 
the species technically until we receive the perfect insect. The secretion itself 
is flat and circular, apparently deposited in concentric rings, gradually increasing 
in size till the patches are about a quarter or a third of an inch in diameter. 

" Jno. O. Westwood." 



MORALA-TEEE.— BUSHMEN. 183 

In passing along we see every where the power of vegetation in 
breaking up the outer crust of tufa. A mopane-tree, growing in a 
small chink, as it increases in size rends and lifts up large frag- 
ments of the rock all around it, subjecting them to the disintegrat- 
ing influence of the atmosphere. The wood is hard, and of a fine 
red color, and is named iron-wood by the Portuguese. The in- 
habitants, observing that the mopane is more frequently struck by 
lightning than other trees, caution travelers never to seek its shade 
when a thunder-storm is near — "Lightning hates it;" while an- 
other tree, the "Morala," which has three spines opposite each 
other on the branches, and has never been known to be touched 
by lightning, is esteemed, even as far as Angola, a protection 
against the electric fluid. Branches of it may be seen placed on 
the houses of the Portuguese for the same purpose. The natives, 
moreover, believe that a man is thoroughly protected from an en- 
raged elephant if he can get into the shade of this tree. There 
may not be much in this, but there is frequently some foundation 
of truth in their observations. 

At Eapesli we came among our old friends the Bushmen, under 
Horoye. This man, Horoye, a good specimen 'of that tribe, and 
his son Mokantsa and others, were at least six feet high, and of a 
darker color than the Bushmen of the south. They have always 
plenty of food and water; and as they frequent the Zouga as oft- 
en as the game in company with which they live, their life is very 
different from that of the inhabitants of the thirsty plains of the 
Kalahari. The animal they refrain from eating is the goat, which 
fact, taken in connection with the superstitious dread which ex- 
ists in every tribe toward a particular animal, is significant of 
their feelings to the only animals they could have domesticated 
in their desert home. They are a merry laughing set, and do 
not tell lies wantonly. They have in their superstitious rites 
more appearance of worship than the Bechuanas ; and at a Bush- 
man's grave we once came to on the Zouga, the observances show-' 
ed distinctly that they regarded the dead as still in another state 
of being ; for they addressed him, and requested him not to be 
ofiended even though they wished still to remain a little while 
longer in this world. 

Those among whom we now were kill many elephants, and 
when the moon is full choose that time for the chase, on account 



184 CIVILIZED AND BAKBAEOUS SPOETSMEN. 

of its coolness. Hunting this animal is the best test of courage 
this country affords. The Bushmen choose the moment suc- 
ceeding a charge, when the elephant is out of breath, to run in 
and give him a stab with their long-bladed spears. In this case 
the uncivilized have the advantage over us, but I believe that 
with half their training Englishmen would beat the Bushmen. 
Our present form of civilization does not necessarily produce 
effeminacy, though it unquestionably increases the beauty, cour- 
age, and physical powers of the race. When at Kolobeng I 
took notes of the different numbers of elephants killed in the 
course of the season by the various parties which went past our 
dwelling, in order to form an idea of the probable annual de- 
struction of this noble animal. There were parties of Griquas, 
Bechuanas, Boers, and Englishmen. All were eager to distin- 
guish themselves, and success depended mainly on the courage 
which leads the huntsman to go close to the animal, and not 
waste the force of his shot on the air. It was noticeable that 
the average for the natives was under one per man, for the Gri- 
quas one per man, for the Boers two, and for the English officers 
twenty each. T<iiis was the more remarkable, as the Griquas, 
Boers, and Bechuanas employed both dogs and natives to assist 
them, while the English hunters generally had no assistance from 
either. They approached to within thirty yards of the animal, 
while the others stood at a distance of a hundred yards, or even 
more, and of course spent all the force of their bullets on the air. 
One elephant was found by Mr. Oswell with quite a crowd of 
bullets in his side, all evidently fired in this style, and they had 
not gone near the vital parts. 

It would thus appear that our more barbarous neighbors do not 
possess half the courage of the civilized sportsman. And it is 
probable that in this respect, as well as in physical development, 
we are superior to our ancestors. The coats of mail and greaves 
of the Knights of Malta, and the armor from the Tower exhibited 
at the Eglinton tournament, may be considered decisive as to the 
greater size attained by modern civilized men. 

At Maila we spent a Sunday with Kaisa, the head man of a 
village of Mashona, who had fled from the iron sway of Mosilika- 
tse, whose country lies east of this. I wished him to take charge 
of a packet of letters for England, to be forwarded when, as is 



BEAUTY OF COUNTEY AT UNKU. 185 

the custom of tlie Bamangwato,, the Bechuanas come hither in 
search of skins and food among the Bushmen ; but he could 
not Ibe made to comprehend that there was no danger in the 
consignment. He feared the responsibility and guilt if any thing 
should happen to them ; so I had to bid adieu to all hope of 
letting my family hear of my welfare till I should reach the west 
coast. 

At Unku we came into a tract of country which had been vis- 
ited by refreshing showers long before, and every spot was covered 
with grass run up to seed, and the flowers of the forest were in 
full bloom. Instead of the dreary prospect around Koobe and 
Nchokotsa, we had here a delightful scene, all the ponds full of 
water, and the birds twittering joyfully. As the game can now 
obtain water every where, they become very shy, and can not be 
found in their accustomed haunts. 

1st March. The thermometer in the shade generally stood at 
98° from 1 to 3 P.M., but it sank as low as 65° by night, so that 
the heat was by no means exhausting. At the surface of the 
ground, in the sun, the thermometer marked 125°, and three inches 
below it 138°. The hand can not be held on the ground, and even 
the horny soles of the feet of the natives must be protected by 
sandals of hide ; yet the ants were busy working on it. The wa- 
ter in the ponds was as high as 100° ; but as water does not con- 
duct heat readily downward, deliciously cool water may be ob- 
tained by any one walking into the middle and lifting up the water 
from the bottom to the surface with his hands. 

Proceeding to the north, from Kama-kama, we entered into 
dense Mohonono bush, which required the constant application of 
the axe by three of our party for two days. This bush has fine sil- 
very leaves, and the bark has a sweet taste. The elephant, with 
his usual delicacy of taste, feeds much on it. On emerging into 
the plains beyond, we found a number of Bushmen, who afterward 
proved very serviceable. The rains had been copious, but now 
great numbers of pools were drying up. Lotus-plants abounded 
in them, and a low, sweet-scented plant covered their banks. 
Breezes came occasionally to us from these drying-up pools, but 
the pleasant odor they carried caused sneezing in both myself and 
people; and on the 10th of March (when in lat. 19° 16^ 11^^ S., 
long. 24° 24/ E.) we were brought to a stand by four of the 



186 KECAPTUEE OF KUNAWAY CATTLE. 

party being seized with fever. I had seen this disease before, 
but did not at once recognize it as the African fever ; I imagined 
it was only a bilious attack, arising from full feeding on flesh, 
for, the large game having been very abundant, we always had a 
good supply ; but instead of the first sufferers recovering soon, 
every man of our party was in a few days laid low, except a Bak- 
wain and myself. He managed the oxen, while I attended to the 
wants of the patients, and went out occasionally with the Bush- 
men to get a zebra or buffalo, so as to induce them to remain 
with us. 

Here for the first time I had leisure to follow the instructions 
of my kind teacher, Mr. Maclear, and calculated several longitudes 
from lunar distances. The hearty manner in which that eminent 
astronomer and frank, friendly man had promised to aid me in cal- 
culating and verifying my work, conduced more than any thing- 
else to inspire me with perseverance in making astronomical ob- 
servations throughout the journey. 

The grass here was so tall that the oxen became uneasy, and 
one night the sight of a hysena made them rush away into the 
forest to the east of us. Oo rising on the morning of the 19th, 
I found that my Bakwain lad had run away with them. This I 
have often seen with persons of this tribe, even when the cattle 
are startled by a lion. Away go the young men in company with 
them, and dash through bush and brake for miles, till they think 
the panic is a little subsided ; they then commence whistling to 
the cattle in the manner they do when milking the cows : having 
calmed them, they remain as a guard till the morning. The men 
generally return with their shins well peeled by the thorns. Each 
comrade of the Mopato would expect his fellow to act thus, with- 
out looking for any other reward than the brief praise of the chief. 
Our lad, Kibopechoe, had gone after the oxen, but had lost them 
in the rush through the flat, trackless forest. He remained on 
their trail all the next day and all the next night. On Sunday 
morning, as I was setting off in search of him, I found him near 
the wagon. He had found the oxen late in the afternoon of 
Saturday, and had been obliged to stand by them all night. It 
was wonderful how he managed without a compass, and in such a 
country, to find his way home at all, bringing about forty oxen 
with him. 



GRAPES. 187 

The Bechuanas -will keep on the sick-list as long as they feel 
any weakness ; so I at last began to be anxious that they should 
make a little exertion to get forward on our way. One of them, 
however, happening to move a hundred yards from the wagon, 
fell down, and, being unobserved, remained the whole night in 
the pouring rain totally insensible ; another was subjected to fre- 
quent swooning ; but, making beds in the wagons for these our 
worst cases, with the help of the Bakwain and the Bushmen, we 
moved slowly on. We had to nurse the sick like children ; and, 
like children recovering from illness, the better they became the 
more impudent they grew. This was seen in the peremptory 
orders they would give with their now piping voices. Nothing 
that we did pleased them ; and the laughter with which I received 
their ebullitions, though it was only the real expression of glad- 
ness at their recovery, and amusement at the ridiculous part they 
acted, only increased their chagrin. The want of power in the 
man who guided the two front oxen, or, as he was called, the 
"leader," caused us to be entangled with trees, both standing and 
fallen, and the labor of cutting them down was even more severe 
than ordinary ; but, notwithstanding an immense amount of toil, 
my health continued good. 

We wished to avoid the tsetse of our former path, so kept a 
course on the magnetic meridian from Lurilopepe. The necessity 
of making a new path much increased our toil. We were, however, 
rewarded in lat. 18° with a sight we had not enjoyed the year 
before, namely, large patches of grape-bearing vines. There they 
stood before my eyes ; but the sight was so entirely unexpected 
that I stood some time gazing at the clusters of grapes with which 
they were loaded, with no more thought of plucking than if I had 
been beholding them in a dream. The Bushmen know and eat 
them; but they are not well flavored on account of the great 
astringency of the seeds, which are in shape and size like split 
peas. The elephants are fond of the fruit, plant, and root alike. 
I here found an insect which preys on ants; it is about an inch 
and a quarter long, as thick as a crow-quill, and covered with black 
hair. It puts its head into a little hole in the ground, and quivers 
its tail rapidly ; the ants come near to see it, and it snaps up each 
as he comes within the range of the forceps on its tail. As its 
head is beneath the ground, it becomes a question how it can 



138 AN ANT-EATER. 

guide its tail to tlie ants. It is probably a new species of ant- 
lion {Myrineleon foronicaleo), great numbers of which, both in 
the larv£e and complete state, are met with. The ground under 
every tree is dotted over with their ingenious pitfalls, and the 
perfect insect, the form of which most persons are familiar with 
in the dragon-fly, may be seen using its tail in the same active 
manner as this insect did. Two may be often seen joined in 
their flight, the one holding on by the tail-forceps to the neck of 
the other. On first observing this imperfect insect, I imagined 
the forceps were on its head ; but when the insect moved, their 
true position was seen. 

The forest, through which we were slowly toiling, daily became 
more dense, and we were kept almost constantly at work with the 
axe ; there was much more leafiness in the trees here than farther 
south. The leaves are chiefly of the pinnate and bi-pinnate forms, 
and are exceedingly beautiful when seen against the sky ; a great 
variety of the papilionaceous family grow in this part of the country. 

Fleming had until this time always assisted to drive his own 
wagon, but about the end of March he knocked up, as well as 
his people. As I could not drive two wagons, I shared with him 
the remaining water, half a caskful, and went on, with the inten- 
tion of coming back for him as soon as we should reach the next 
pool. Heavy rain now commenced ; I was employed the whole 
day in cutting down trees, and every stroke of the axe brought 
down a thick shower on my back, which in the hard work was 
very refreshing, as the water found its way down into my shoes. 
In the evening we met some Bushmen, who volunteered to show 
us a pool ; and having unyoked, I walked some miles in search of 
it. As it became dark they showed their politeness — a quality 
which is by no means confined entirely to the civilized — by walk- 
ing in front, breaking the branches which hung across the path, 
and pointing out the fallen trees. On returning to the wagon, 
we found that being left alone had brought out some of Fleming's 
energy, for he had managed to come up. 

As the water in this pond dried up, we were soon obliged to 
move again. One of the Bushmen took out his dice, and, after 
throwing them, said that God told him to go home. He threw 
again in order to show me the command, but the opposite result 
followed ; so he remained and was useful, for we lost the oxen 



BUSHMEN'S POISONS. 189 

again by a lion driving them off to a very great distance. The 
lions here are not often heard. They seem to have a wholesome 
dread of the Bushmen, who, when they ol)serve evidence of a 
lion's having made a full meal, follow up his spoor so quietly that 
his slumbers are not disturbed. One discharges a poisoned arrow 
from a distance of only a few feet, while his companion simulta- 
neously throws his skin cloak on the beast's head. The sudden 
surprise makes the lion lose his presence of mind, and he bounds 
away in the greatest confusion and terror. Our friends here 
showed me the poison which they use on these occasions. It is 
the entrails of a caterpillar called N'gwa, half an inch long. 
They squeeze out these, and place them all around the bottom of 
the barb, and allow the poison to dry in the sun. They are very 
careful in cleaning their nails after working with it, as a small 
portion introduced into a scratch acts like morbid matter in dis- 
section wounds. The agony is so great that the person cuts him- 
self, calls for his mother's breast as if he were returned in idea to 
his childhood again, or flies from human habitations a raging ma- 
niac. The eifects on the lion are equally terrible. He is heard 
moaning in distress, and becomes furious, biting the trees and 
ground in rage. 

As the Bushmen have the reputation of curing the wounds of 
this poison, I asked how this was effected. They said that they 
administer the caterpillar itself in combination with fat ; they also 
rub fat into the wound, saying that " the N'gwa wants fat, and, 
when it does not find it in the body, kills the man : we give it 
what it wants, and it is content:" a reason which will commend 
itself to the enlightened among ourselves. 

The poison more generally employed is the milky juice of the 
tree Euphorbia {E. arborescens). This is particularly obnoxious 
to the equine race. When a quantity is mixed with the water 
of a pond a whole herd of zebras will fall dead from the effects of 
the poison before they have moved away two miles. It does not, 
however, kill oxen or men. On them it acts as a drastic purgative 
only. This substance is used all over the country, though in some 
places the venom of serpents and a certain bulb, ATnarylUs toxi- 
earia, are added, in order to increase the virulence. 

Father Pedro, a Jesuit, who lived at Zumbo, made a balsam, 
containing a number of plants and castor oil, as a remedy for 



190 THE BUSHMEN. 

poisoned arrow-wounds. It is probable that he derived his knowl- 
edge from the natives as I did, and that the reputed efficacy of the 
balsam is owing to its fatty constituent. 

In cases of the bites of serpents a small key ought to be pressed 
down firmly on the wound, the orifice of the key being applied to 
the puncture, until a cupping-glass can be got from one of the na- 
tives. A watch-key pressed firmly on the point stung by a scor- 
pion extracts the poison, and a mixture of fat or oil and ipecacu- 
anha relieves the pain. 

The Bushmen of these districts are generally fine, well-made 
men, and are nearly independent of every one. We observed 
them to be fond of a root somewhat like a kidney potato, and the 
kernel of a nut, which Fleming thought was a kind of betel ; the 
tree is a fine, large-spreading one, and the leaves palmate. From 
the quantities of berries and the abundance of game in these parts, 
the Bushmen can scarcely ever be badly off for food. As I could, 
without much difficulty, keep them well supplied with meat, and 
wished them to remain, I proposed that they should bring their 
wives to get a share, but they remarked that the women could al- 
ways take care of themselves. 

None of the men of our party had died, but two seemed un- 
likely to recover ; and Kibopechoe, my willing Mokwain, at last 
became troubled with boils, and then got all the symptoms of fe- 
ver. As he lay down, the others began to move about, and com- 
plained of weakness only. Believing that frequent change of 
place was conducive to their recovery, we moved along as much 
as we could, and came to the hill N'gwa (lat. 18° 27^ 20^^ S.,long. 
24° 13'' 36'' E.). This being the only hill we had seen since 
leaving Bamangwato, we felt inclined to take off our hats to it. 
It is three or four hundred feet high, and covered with trees. Its 
geographical position is pretty accurately laid down from occulta- 
tion and other observations. I may mention that the valley on 
its northern side, named Kandehy or Kandehai, is as picturesque 
a spot as is to be seen in this part of Africa. The open glade, sur- 
rounded by forest trees of various hues, had a little stream mean- 
dering in the centre. A herd of reddish-colored antelopes (pallahs) 
stood on one side, near a large baobab, looking at us, and ready to 
run up the hill ; while gnus, tsessebes, and zebras gazed in aston- 
ishment at the intruders. Some fed carelessly, and others put 



BEAUTY OF THE COUNTKY. 191 

on tlie peculiar air of displeasure -wliicli these animals sometimes 
assume before tliej^ resolve on flight. A large white rhinoceros 
came along the Ibottom of the valley with his slow sauntering gait 
without noticing us-; he looked as if he meant to indulge in a mud 
hath. Several buffaloes, with their dark visages, stood under the 
trees on the side opposite to the pallahs. It being Sunday, all 
was peace, and, from the circumstances in which our party was 
placed, we could not but reflect on that second stage of our ex- 
istence which we hope will lead us into scenes of perfect beauty. 
If pardoned in that free way the Bible promises, death will be a 
glorious thing; but to be consigned to wait for the Judgment-day, 
with nothing else to ponder on but sins we would rather forget, 
is a cheerless prospect. 

Our Bushmen wished to leave us, and, as there was no use in 
trying to thwart these independent gentlemen, I paid them, and 
allowed them to go. The payment, however, acted as a charm on 
some strangers who happened to be present, and induced them to 
volunteer their aid. 

The game hereabouts is very tame. Koodoos and giraffes 
stood gazing at me as a strange apparition w^hen I went out with 
the Bushmen. On one occasion a lion came at daybreak, and 
went round and round the oxen. I could only get a glimpse of 
him occasionally from the wagon-box ; but, though barely thirty 
yards off, I could not get a shot. He then began to roar at the 
top of his voice ; but the oxen continuing to stand still, he was so 
disgusted that he went off, and continued to use his voice for a long 
time in the distance. I could not see that he had a mane ; if he 
had not, then even the maneless variety can use their tongues. 
We heard others also roar ; and, when they found they could not 
frighten the oxen, they became equally angry. This we could 
observe in their tones. 

As we went north the country became very lovely; many new 
trees appeared ; the grass was green, and often higher than the 
wagons ; the vines festooned the trees, among which appeared the 
real banian {Ficus Indicd), with its drop-shoots, and the wild date 
and palmyra, and several other trees which were new to me ; the 
hollows contained large patches of water. Next came water- 
courses, now resembling small rivers, twenty yards broad and four 
feet deep. The further we went, the broader and deeper these 



192 THE SANSHUEEH. 

Ibecame; tlieir bottoms contained great, numlbers of deep holes, 
made by elephants wading in them ; in these the oxen floundered 
desperately, so that our wagon-pole broke, compelling us to work 
up to the breast in water for three hours and a half; yet I suffered 
no harm. 

We at last came to the Sanshureh, which presented an impass- 
able barrier, so we drew up under a magnificent baobab-tree, 
(lat. 18°4/2T' S., long. 24° 6^20^^E.), and resolved to explore the 
river for a ford. The great quantity of water we had passed 
through was part of the annual inundation of the Chobe; and this, 
which appeared a large, deep river, filled in many parts with reeds, 
and having hippopotami in it, is only one of the branches by which 
it sends its superabundant water to the southeast. From the hill 
N'gwa a ridge of higher land runs to the northeast, and bounds 
its course in that direction. We, being ignorant of this, were in 
the valley, and the only gap in the whole country destitute of 
tsetse. In company with the Bushmen I explored all the banks 
of the Sanshureh to the west till we came into tsetse on that side. 
We waded a long way among the reeds in water breast deep, but 
always found a broad, deep space free from vegetation and unford- 
able. A peculiar kind of lichen, which grows on the surface of 
the soil, becomes detached and floats on the water, giving out a 
very disagreeable odor, like sulphureted hydrogen, in some of these 
stagnant waters. 

We made so many attempts to get over the Sanshureh, both to 
the west and east of the wagon, in the hope of reaching some of 
the Makololo on the Chobe, that ray Bushmen friends became 
quite tired of the work. By means of presents I got them to 
remain some days ; but at last they slipped away by night, and 
I was fain to take one of the strongest of my still weak com- 
panions and cross the river in a pontoon, the gift of Captains 
Codrington and Webb. We each carried some provisions and 
a blanket, and penetrated about twenty miles to the westward, in 
the hope of striking the Chobe. It was much nearer to us in a 
northerly direction, but this we did not then know. The plain, 
over which we splashed the whole of the first day, was covered 
with water ankle deep, and thick grass which reached above the 
knees. In the evening we came to an immense wall of reeds, 
six or eight feet high, without any opening admitting of a passage. 



BANKS OF THE CHOBE. I93 

When we tried to enter, the water always became so deep that 
we were fain to desist. We concluded that' we had come to the 
banks of the river we were in search of, so we directed our course 
to some trees which appeared in the south, in order to get a bed 
and a view of the adjacent localitj. Having shot a leche, and 
made a glorious fire, we got a good cup of tea and had a com- 
fortable night. While collecting wood that evening, I found a 
bird's nest consisting of live leaves sewn together with threads 
of the spider's web. Nothing could exceed the airiness of this 
pretty contrivance; the threads had been pushed through small 
punctures and thickened to resemble a knot. I unfortunately 
lost it. This was the second nest I had seen resembling that of 
the tailor-bird of India. 

Next morning, by climbing the highest trees, we could see a 
fine large sheet of water, but surrounded on all sides by the same 
impenetrable belt of reeds. This is the broad part of the Eiver 
Chobe, and is called Zabesa. Two tree-covered islands seemed 
to be much nearer to the water than the shore on which we were, 
so we made an attempt to get to them first. It was not the reeds 
alone we had to pass through ; a peculiar serrated grass, which 
at certain angles cut the hands like a razor, was mingled with 
the reed, and the climbing convolvulus, with stalks which felt as 
strong as whipcord, bound the mass together. We felt like pig- 
mies in it, and often the only way we could get on was by both of 
us leaning against a part and bending it down till we could stand 
upon it. The perspiration streamed oiF our bodies, and as the 
sun rose liigh, there being no ventilation among the reeds, the 
heat was stifling, and the water, which was up to the knees, felt 
agreeably refreshing. After some hours' toil we reached one of 
the islands. Here we met an old friend, the bramble-bush. 
My strong moleskins were quite worn through at the knees, and 
the leather trowsers of my companion were torn aijd his legs 
bleeding. Tearing my handkerchief in two, I tied the pieces 
round my knees, and then encountered another difficulty. We 
were still forty or fifty yards from the clear water, but now we 
were opposed by great masses of papyrus, which are like palms 
in miniature, eight or ten feet high, and an inch and a half in 
diameter. These were laced together by twining convolvulus, so 
strongly that the weight of both of us could not make way into 

N 



194 THE CHOBE. 

the clear water. At last we fortunately found a passage prepared 
by a hippopotamus. Eager as soon as we reached the island to 
look along the vista to clear water, I stepped in and found it took 
me at once up to the neck. 

Returning nearly worn out, we proceeded up the bank of the 
Chohe till we came to the point of departure of the branch 
Sanshureh ; we then went in the opposite direction, or down the 
Chobe, though from the highest trees we could see nothing but one 
vast expanse of reed, with here and there a tree on the islands. 
This was a hard day's work; and when we came to a deserted 
Bayeiye hut on an ant-hill, not a bit of wood or any thing else 
could be got for a fire except the grass and sticks of the dwelling 
itself. I dreaded the ^'■Tampans,'''' so common in all old huts; 
but outside of it we had thousands of musquitoes, and cold dew be- 
gan to be deposited, so we were fain to crawl beneath its shelter. 

We were close to the reeds, and could listen to the strange 
sounds which are often heard there. By day I had seen water- 
snakes putting up their heads and swimming about. There were 
great numbers of otters [L^itra iyiunguis, F. Cuvier), which have 
made little spoors all over the plains in search of the fishes, 
among the tall grass of these flooded prairies ; curious birds, too, 
jerked and wriggled among these reedy masses, and we heard 
human-like voices and unearthly sounds, with splash, guggle, jupp, 
as if rare fun were going on in their uncouth haunts. At one time 
something came near us, making a splashing like that of a canoe 
or hippopotamus ; thinking it to be the Makololo, we got up, 
listened, and shouted ; then discharged a gun several times ; but 
the noise- continued without intermission for an hour. After a 
damp, cold night we set to, early in the morning, at our work of 
exploring again, but left the pontoon in order to lighten our 
labor. The ant-hills are here very high, some thirty feet, and 
of a base so broad that trees grow on them ; while the lands, 
annually flooded, bear nothing but grass. From one of these ant- 
hills we discovered an inlet to the Chobe ; and, having gone back 
for the pontoon, we launched ourselves on a deep river, here from 
eighty to one hundred yards wide. I gave my companion strict 
injunctions to stick by the pontoon in case a hippopotamus should 
look at us ; nor was this caution unnecessary, for one came up at 
our side and made a desperate plunge off. We had passed over 



RETURN TO LINYANTL I95 

him. The wave he made caused the pontoon to glide quickly 
away from him. 

We paddled on from midday till sunset. There was nothing 
but a wall of reed on each hank, and we saw every prospect of 
spending a supperless night in our float ; but just as the short 
twilight of these parts was commencing, we perceived on the north 
bank the village of Moremi, one of the Makololo, whose acquaint- 
ance I had made on our former visit, and who was now located 
•on the island Mahonta (lat. 17° 58^ S., long. 24° G' E.). The 
villagers looked as we may suppose people do who see a ghost, 
and in their figurative way of speaking said, "He has dropped 
among us from the clouds, yet came riding on the back of a 
hippopotamus ! We Makololo thought no one could cross the 
Chobe without our knowledge, but here he drops among us like 
a bird." 

Next day we returned in canoes across the flooded lands, and 
found that, in our absence, the men had allowed the cattle to 
wander into a very small patch of wood to the west containing 
the tsetse ; this carelessness cost me ten fine large oxen. After 
remaining a few days, some of the head men of the Makololo 
came down from Linyanti, with a large party of Barotse, to take 
us across the river. This they did in fine style, swimming and 
diving among the oxen more like alligators than men, and taking 
the wagon? to pieces and carrying them across on a number of 
canoes lashed together. We were now among friends ; so going 
about thirty miles to the north, in order to avoid the still flooded" 
lands on the north of the Chobe, we turned westward toward Lin- 
yanti (lat. 18° 17^ 20^^ S., long. 23° 50^ 9'' E.), where we arrived 
on the 23d of May, 1853. This is the capital town of the Mako- 
lolo, and only a short distance from our wagon-stand of 1851 (lat. 
18° 20^ S., long. 23050^ E.). 



196 THE COUET HERALD. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ileception at Linyanti. — The court Herald. — Sekeletu obtains the Chieftainship 
from his Sister. — Mpepe's Plot. — Slave-trading Mambari. — Their sudden Flight. 
— Sekeletu narrowly escapes Assassination. — Execution of Mpepe. — The Courts 
of Law. — Mode of trying Offenses. — Sekeletu's Reason for not learning to read 
the Bible. — The Disposition made of the Wives of a deceased Chief. — Makololo 
"Women. — They work but little. — Employ Serfs. — Their Drink, Dress, and Orna- 
ments. — Public Religious Services in the Kotla. — Unfavorable Associations of the 
place. — Native Doctors. — Proposals to teach the Makololo to read. — Sekeletu's 
Present. — Reason for accepting it. — Trading in Ivory. — Accidental Fii-e. — Pres- 
ents for Sekeletu. — Two Breeds of native Cattle. — Ornamenting the Cattle. — The 
Women and the Looking-glass. — Mode of preparing the Skins of Oxen for Man- 
tles and for Shields. — Throwing the Spear. 

The whole population of Linyanti, numlDering between six and 
seven thousand souls, turned out en masse to see the wagons in 
motion. They had never witnessed the phenomenon before, we 
having on the former occasion departed by night. Sekeletu, now 
in power, received us in what is considered royal style, setting 
before us a great number of pots of boyaloa, the beer of the 
country. These were brought by women, and each bearer takes 
a good draught of the beer when she sets it down, by way of 
"tasting," to show that there is no poison. 

The court herald, an old man who occupied the post also in 
Sebituane's time, stood up, and after some antics, such as leaping, 
and shouting at the top of his voice, roared out some adulatory 
sentences, as, "Don't I see the white man? Don't I see the 
comrade of Sebituane ? Don't I see the father of Sekeletu ?" — 
"We want sleep." — "Give your son sleep, my lord," etc., etc. 
The perquisites of this man are the heads of all the cattle slaugh- 
tered by the chief, and he even takes a share of the tribute before 
it is distributed and taken out of the kotla. He is expected to 
utter all the proclamations, call assemblies, keep the kotla clean, 
and the fire burning every evening, and when a person is exeouted 
in public he drags away the body. 

I found Sekeletu a young man of eighteen years of age, of 



SEKELETU OBTAINS CHIEFTAmSHIP. I97 

that dark yellow or cofFee-and-milk color, of which the Mal*>lolo 
are so proud, because it distinguishes them considerably from the 
black tribes on the rivers. He is about five feet seven in height, 
and neither so good looking nor of so much ability as his father 
was, but is equally friendly to the English. Sebituane installed 
his daughter Mamochisane into the chieftainship long before his 
death, but, with all his acuteness, the idea of her having a hus- 
band who should not be her lord did not seem to enter his mind. 
He wished to make her his successor, probably in imitation of 
some of the negro tribes with whom he had come into contact ; 
but, being of the Bechuana race, he could not look upon the hus- 
band except as the woman's lord ; so he told her all the men were 
hers — she might take any one, but ought to keep none. In fact, 
he thought she might do with the men what he could do with the 
women ; but these men had other wives ; and, according to a 
saying in the country, "the tongues of women can not be gov- 
erned," they made her miserable by their remarks. One man 
whom she chose was even called her wife, and her son the child 
of Mamochisane's wife ; but the arrangement was so distasteful 
to Mamochisane herself that, as soon as Sebituane died, she said 
she never wdiild consent to govern the Makololo so long as she 
had a brother living. Sekeletu, being afraid of another mem- 
ber of the family, ]\Ipepe, who had pretensions to the chief- 
tainship, urged his sister strongly to remain as she had always 
been, and allow him to support her authority by leading the 
Makololo when they went forth to war. Three days were spent 
in public discussion on the point. Mpepe insinuated that Seke- 
letu was not the lawful son of Sebituane, on account of his moth- 
er having been the wife of another chief before her marriage with 
Sebituane ; Mamochisane, however, upheld Sekeletu's claims, and 
at last stood up in the assembly and addressed him with a wom- 
anly gush of tears : "I have been a chief only because my fa- 
ther wished it. I always would have preferred to be married and 
have a family like other women. You, Sekeletu, must be chief, 
and build up your father's house." This was a death-blow to the 
hopes of Mpepe. 

As it will enable the reader to understand the social and polit- 
ical relations of these people, I will add a few more particulars 
respecting Mpepe. Sebituane, having no son to take the leader- 



198 SLAVE-TEADERS. 

ship of the "Mopato" of the age of his daughter, chose him, as 
the nearest male relative, to occupy that post ; and presuming 
from Mpepe's connection with his family that he would attend to 
his interests and relieve him from care, he handed his cattle over 
to his custody. Mpepe removed to the chief town, "Naliele," 
and took such effectual charge of all the cattle that Selbituane 
saw he could only set matters on their former footing by the 
severe measure of Mpepe's execution. Being unwillino- to do 
this, and fearing the enchantments which, by means of a number 
of Barotse doctors, Mpepe now used in a hut built for the 
purpose, and longing for peaceful retirement after thirty years' 
fighting, he heard with pleasure of our arrival at the lake, and 
came down as far as Sesheke to meet us. He had an idea, 
picked up from some of the numerous strangers who visited him, 
that white men had a " pot (a cannon) in their towns Avhich would 
burn up any attacking party ;" and he thought if he could only 
get this he would be able to " sleep" the remainder of his days in 
peace. This he hoped to obtain from the white men. Hence the 
cry of the herald, "Give us sleep." It is remarkable how anx- 
ious for peace those who have been fighting all their lives appear 
to be. 

When Sekeletu was installed in the chieftainship, he felt his po- 
sition rather insecure, for it was believed that the incantations of 
Mpepe had an intimate connection with Sebituane's death. In- 
deed, the latter had said to his son, " That hut of incantation will 
prove fatal to either you or me." 

When the Mambari, in 1850, took home a favorable report of 
this new market to the west, a number of half-caste Portuguese 
slave-traders were induced to come in 1853 ; and one, who re- 
sembled closely a real Portuguese, came to Linyanti while I was 
there. This man had no merchandise, and pretended to have 
come in order to inquire "what sort of goods were necessary for 
the market." He seemed much disconcerted by my presence 
there. Sekeletu presented him with an elephant's tusk and an 
ox ; and when he had departed about fifty miles to the west- 
ward, he carried off an entire village of the Bakalahari belonffing" 
to the Makololo. He had a number of armed slaves with him ; 
and as all the villagers — men, women, and children — were re- 
moved, and the fact was unknown until a considerable time 



SLAVE-TEADEES. I99 

afterward, it is not certain whether his object was obtained by vio- 
lence or by fair promises. In either case, slavery must have been 
the portion of these poor people. He was carried in a hammock, 
slung between two poles, which appearing to be a bag, the Mako- 
lolo named him " Father of the Bag." 

Mpepe favored these slave-traders, and they, as is usual with 
them, founded all their hopes of influence on his successful rebel- 
lion. My arrival on the scene was felt to be so much weight in 
the scale against their interests. A large party of Mambari had 
come to Linyanti when I was floundering on the prairies south of 
the Chobe. As the news of my being in the neighborhood reach- 
ed them their countenances fell ; and when some Makololo, who 
had assisted us to cross the river, returned with hats which I had 
given them, the Mambari betook themselves to precipitate flight. 
It is usual for visitors to ask formal permission before attempting 
to leave a chief, but the sight of the hats made the Mambari pack 
up at once. The Makololo inquired the cause of the hurry, and 
were told that, if I found them there, I should take all their slaves 
and goods from them ; and, though assured by Sekeletu that I 
was ' not a robber, but a man of peace, they fled by night, while I 
was still sixty miles ofl: They went to the north, where, under 
the protection of Mpepe, they had erected a stockade of consider- 
able size. There, several half-caste slave-traders, under the lead- 
ership of a native Portuguese, carried on their traffic, without ref- 
erence to the chief into whose country they had unceremoniously 
introduced themselves ; while Mpepe, feeding them with the cat- 
tle of Sekeletu, formed a plan of raising himself, by means of their 
fire-arms, to be the head of the Makololo. The usual course which 
the slave-traders adopt is to take a part in the political affairs of 
each tribe, and, siding with the strongest, get well paid by cap- 
tures made from the weaker party. Long secret conferences were 
held by the slave-traders and Mpepe, and it was deemed advisable 
for him to strike the first blow ; so he provided himself with a 
small battle-axe, with the intention of cutting Sekeletu down the 
first time they met. 

My object being first of all to examine the country for a 
healthy locality, before attempting to make a path to either the 
East or West Coast, I proposed to Sekeletu the plan of ascend- 
ing the great river which we had discovered in 1851. He vol- 



200 EXECUTION OF MPEPE. 

unteered to accompany me, and, when we got about sixty miles 
away, on the road to Sesheke, we encountered Mpepe. The 
Makololo, though possessing abundance of cattle, had never at- 
tempted to ride oxen until I advised it in 1851. The Bechu- 
anas generally were in the same condition, until Europeans came 
among them and imparted the idea of riding. All their journeys 
previously were performed on foot. Sekeletu and his companions 
were mounted on oxen, though, having neither saddle nor bridle, 
they were perpetually falling off. Mpepe, armed with his little 
axe, came along a path parallel to, but a quarter of a mile distant 
from, that of our party, and, when he saw Sekeletu, he ran with 
all his might toward us ; but Sekeletu, being on his guard, gal- 
loped off to an adjacent village. He then withdrew somewhere 
till all our party came up. Mpepe had given his own party to 
understand that he would cut down Sekeletu, either on their first 
meeting, or at the breaking up of their first conference. The 
former intention having been thus frustrated, he then determined 
to effect his purpose after their first interview. I happened to sit 
down between the two in the hut where they met. Being tired 
with riding all day in the sun, I soon asked Sekeletu where I 
should sleep, and he replied, "Come, I will show you." As we 
rose together, I unconsciously covered Sekeletu's body with mine, 
and saved him from the blow of the assassin, I knew noth- 
ing of the plot, but remarked that all Mpepe's men kept hold 
of their arms, even after we had sat down — a thing quite unusu- 
al in the presence of a chief; and when Sekeletu showed me the 
hut in which I was to spend the night, he said to me, " That 
man wishes to kill me." I afterward learned that some of Mpe- 
pe's attendants had divulged the secret ; and, bearing in mind 
his father's instructions, Sekeletu put Mpepe to death that night. 
It was managed so quietly, that, although I was sleeping within 
a few yards of the scene, I knew nothing of it till the next day. 
Nokuane went to the fire, at which Mpepe sat, with a handful 
of snuff, as if he were about to sit down and regale himself 
therewith. Mpepe said to him, " Nsepisa" (cause me to take 
a pinch) ; and, as he held out his hand, Nokuane caught hold of 
it, while another man seized the other hand, and, leading him out 
a mile, speared him. This is the common mode of executing 
criminals. They are not allowed to speak ; though on one occa- 



COURTS OF LAAV. 201 

sion a man, feeling liis wrist held too tightly, said, " Hold me 
gentlj, can't you ? you will soon he led out in the same way 
yourselves." MjDepe's men fled to the Barotse, and, it being un- 
advisable for us to go thither during the commotion which follow- 
ed on Mpepe's deatli% we returned to Linyanti. 

The foregoing may be considered as a characteristic specimen 
of their mode of dealing with grave political offenses. In common 
cases there is a greater show of deliberation. The complainant 
asks the man against whom he means to lodge his complaint to 
come with him to the chief This is never refused. When both 
are in the kotla, the complainant stands up and states the whole 
case before the chief and the people usually assembled there. 
He stands a few seconds after he has done this, to recollect if he 
has forgotten any thing. The witnesses to whom he has referred 
then rise up and tell all they themselves have seen or heard, but 
not any thing that they have heard from others. The defendant, 
after allowing some minutes to elapse so that he may not inter- 
rupt any of the opposite party, slowly rises, folds his cloak around 
him, and, in the most quiet, deliberate way he can assume — 
yawning, blowing his nose, etc. — begins to explain the affair, 
denying the charge, or admitting it, as the case may be. Some- 
times, when galled by his remarks, the complainant utters a sen- 
tence of dissent ; the accused turns quietly to him, and says, 
" Be silent : I sat still while you were speaking ; can't you do 
the same? Do you want to have it all to yourself?" And as 
the audience acquiesce in this bantering, and enforce silence, he 
goes on till he has finished all he wishes to say in his defense. 
If he has any witnesses to the truth of the facts of his defense, 
they give their evidence. No oath is administered ; but occa- 
sionally, when a statement is questioned, a man will say, "By 
my father," or " By the chief, it is so." Their truthfulness among 
each other is quite remarkable ; but their system of government 
is such that Europeans are not in a position to realize it readily. 
A poor man will say, in his defense against a rich one, " I am 
astonished to hear a man so great as he make a false accusation ;" 
as if the offense of falsehood were felt to be one against the so- 
ciety which the individual referred to had the greatest interest in 
upholding. 

If the case is one of no importance, the chief decides it at once ; 



202 MODE OF TEYING OFFENSES. 

if frivolous, he may give the complainant a scolding, and put a 
stop to the case in the middle of the complaint, or he may allow 
it to go on without paying any attention to it whatever. Family 
quarrels are often treated in this way, and then a man may be 
seen stating his case with great fluency, and not a soul listening 
to him. But if it is a case between influential men, or brought 
on by under-chiefs, then the greatest decorum prevails. If the 
chief does not see his way clearly to a decision, he remains 
silent ; the elders then rise one by one and give their opinions, 
often in the way of advice rather than as decisions ; and when the 
chief finds the general sentiment agreeing in one view, he de- 
livers his judgment accordingly. He alone speaks sitting ; all 
others stand. 

No one refuses to acquiesce in the decision of the chief, as he 
has the power of life and death in his hands, and can enforce the 
law to that extent if he chooses ; but grumbling is allowed, and, 
when marked favoritism is shown to any relative of the chief, 
the people generally are not so astonished at the partiality as we 
would be in England. 

This system was found as well developed among the Makololo 
as among the Bakwains, or even better, and is no foreign im- 
portation. When at Cassange, my men had a slight quarrel 
among themselves, and came to me, as to their chief, for judg- 
ment. This had occurred several times before, so without a 
thought I went out of the Portuguese merchant's house in which 
I was a guest, sat down, and heard the complaint and defense in 
the usual way. When I had given my decision in the common 
admonitory form, they went ofl" apparently satisfied. Several 
Portuguese, who had been viewing the proceedings with great in- 
terest, complimented me on the success of my teaching them how 
to act in litigation ; but I could not take any credit to myself for 
the system which I had found ready-made to my hands. 

Soon after our arrival at Linyanti, Sekeletu took me aside, and 
pressed me to mention those things I liked best and hoped to 
get from him. Any thing, either in or out of his town, should be 
freely given if I would only mention it. I explained to him that 
my object was to elevate him and his people to be Christians ; 
but he replied he did not wish to learn to read the Book, for he 
was afraid *' it might change his heart, and make him content 



DISPOSAL OF CHIEF'S WIDOWS. 203 

with only one wife, like Secliele." It was of little use to urge 
that the change of heart implied a contentment with one wife 
equal to his present complacency in polygamy. Such a prefer- 
ence after the change of mind could not now be understood by 
him any more than the real, unmistakable pleasure of religious 
services can by those who have not experienced what is known 
by the term the "new heart." I assured him that nothing was 
expected but by his own voluntary decision. "No, no ; he wanted 
always to have five wives at least." I liked the frankness of Se- 
keletu, for nothing is so wearying to the spirit as talking to those 
who agree with every thing advanced. 

Sekeletu, according to the system of the Bechuanas, became 
possessor of his father's wives, and adopted two of them ; the 
children by these women are, however, in these cases, termed 
brothers. When an elder brother dies, the same thing occurs in 
respect of his wives ; the brother next in age takes them, as 
among the Jews, and the children that may be born of those 
women he calls his brothers also. He thus raises up seed to his 
departed relative. An uncle of Sekeletu, being a younger brother 
of Sebituane, got that chieftain's head- wife or queen : there is 
always one who enjoys this title. Her hut is called the great 
house, and her children inherit the chieftainship. If she dies, a 
new wife is selected for the same position, and enjoys the same 
privileges, though she may happen to be a much younger woman 
than the rest. 

The majority of the wives of Sebituane were given to influen- 
tial under-chiefs ; and, in reference to their early casting off the 
widow's weeds, a song was sung, the tenor of which Avas that the 
men alone felt the loss of their father Sebituane, the women were 
so soon supplied with new husbands that their hearts had not 
time to become sore with grief. 

The women complain because the proportions between the 
sexes are so changed now that they are not valued as they de- 
serve. The majority of the real Makololo have been cut off by 
fever. Those who remain are a mere fragment of the people 
who came to the north with Sebituane. Migrating from a very 
healthy climate in the south, they were more subject to the 
febrile diseases of the valley in which we found them than the 
black tribes they conquered. In comparison with the Barotse, 



204 MAKOLOLO WOMEN. 

Batoka, and Banyeti, the Makololo have a sickly hue. They are 
of a h'ght brownish-yellow color, while the tribes referred to are 
very dark, with a slight tinge of olive. The whole of the colored 
tribes consider that beauty and fairness are associated, and women 
long for children of light color so much, that they sometimes chew 
tlte bark of a certain tree in hopes of producing that effect. To 
my eye the dark color is much more agreeable than the tawny 
hue of the half-caste, which that of the Makololo ladies closely 
resembles. The women generally escaped the fever, but they are 
less fruitful than formerly, and, to their complaint of being under- 
valued on account of the disproportion of the sexes, they now add 
their regrets at the want of children, of whom they are all excess- 
ively fond. 

The Makololo women work but little. Indeed, the families of 
that nation are spread over the country, one or two only in each 
village, as the lords of the land. They all have lordship over 
great numbers of subjected tribes, who pass by the general name 
Makalaka, and who are forced to render certain services, and to 
aid in tilling the soil; but each has his own land under cultivation, 
and otherwise lives nearly independent. They are proud to be 
called Makololo, but the other term is often used in reproach, as 
betokening inferiority. This species of servitude may be termed 
serfdom, as it has to be rendered in consequence of subjection by 
force of arms, but it is necessarily very mild. It is so easy for 
any one who is unkindly treated to make his escape to other 
tribes, that the Makololo are compelled to treat them, to a great 
extent, rather as children than slaves. Some masters, who fail 
from defect of temper or disposition to secure the affections of the 
conquered people, frequently find themselves left without a single 
servant, in consequence of the absence and impossibility of en- 
forcing a fugitive-slave law, and the readiness with which those 
who are themselves subjected assist the fugitives across the rivers 
in canoes. The Makololo ladies are liberal in their presents of 
milk and other food, and seldom require to labor, except in the 
way of beautifying their own huts and court-yards. They drink 
large quantities of boyaloa or o-alo, the btiza of the Arabs, 
which, being made of the grain called holcus sorghum or "dura- 
saifi," in a minute state of subdivision, is very nutritious, and 
gives that plumpness of form which is considered beautiful. They 



PUBLIC RELIGIOUS SEEVICE. 205 

dislike being seen at their potations by persons of the opposite 
sex. Thej- cut their woolly hair quite short, and delight in 
having the whole person shining with butter. Their dress is a 
kilt reaching to the knees; its material is ox-hide, made as soft 
as cloth. It is not ungraceful. A soft skin mantle is thrown 
across the shoulders when the lady is unemployed, but when 
engaged in any sort of labor she throws this aside, and works 
in the kilt alone. The ornaments most coveted are large brass 
anklets as thick as the little finger, and armlets of both brass 
and ivory, the latter often an inch broad. The rings are so heavy 
that the ankles are often blistered by the weight pressing down ; 
but it is the fashion, and is borne as magnanimously as tight 
lacing and tight shoes among ourselves. Strings of beads are 
hung around the neck, and the fashionable colors being light green 
and pink, a trader could get almost any thing he chose for beads 
of these colors. 

At our public religious services in the kotla, the Makololo 
women always behaved with decorum from the first, except at 
the conclusion of the prayer. When all knelt down, many of 
those who had children, in following the example of the rest, bent 
over their little ones ; the children, in terror of being crushed to 
death, set up a simultaneous yell, which so tickled the whole as- 
sembly there was often a subdued titter, to be turned into a hearty 
laugh as soon as they heard Amen. This was not so difficult to 
overcome in them as similar peccadilloes were in the case of the 
women farther south. Long after we had settled at Mabotsa, 
when preaching on the most solemn subjects, a woman might be 
observed to look round, a:nd, seeing a neighbor seated on her dress, 
give her a hunch with the elbow to make her move off; the other 
would return it with interest, and perhaps the remark, " Take the 
nasty thing away, will you ?" Then three or four would begin to 
hustle the first offenders, and the men to swear at them all, by way 
of enforcing silence. 

Great numbers of little trifling things like these occur, and 
would not be worth the mention but that one can not form a 
correct idea of missionary work except by examination of the 
minutiae. At the risk of appearing frivolous to some, I shall con- 
tinue to descend to mere trifles. 

The numbers who attended at the summons of the herald, who 



206 MEDICAL PRACTICE. 

acted as beadle, were often from five to seven hundred. The serv- 
ice consisted of reading a small portion of the Bible and giving an 
explanatory address, usually short enough to prevent weariness 
or want of attention. So long as we continue to hold services 
in the kotla, the associations of the place are unfavorable to so- 
lemnity ; hence it is always desirable to have a place of worship 
as soon as possible ; and it is of importance, too, to treat such 
place with reverence, as an aid to secure that serious attention 
which religious subjects demand. This will appear more evident 
when it is recollected that, in thS very spot where we had been 
engaged in acts of devotion, half an hour after a dance would 
be got up ; and these habits can not be at first opposed without 
the appearance of assuming too much authority over them. It is 
always unwise to hurt their feelings of independence. Much 
greater influence will be gained by studying how you may induce 
them to act aright, with the impression that they are doing it of 
their own free will. . Our services having necessarily been all in 
the open air, where it is most difficult to address large bodies of 
people, prevented my recovering so entirely from the effects of 
clergyman's sore throat as I expected, when my uvula was excised 
at the Cape. 

To give an idea of the routine followed for months together, on 
other days as well as on Sundays, I may advert to my habit of 
treating the sick for complaints which seemed to surmount the 
skill of their own doctors. I refrained from going to any one un- 
less his own doctor wished it, or had given up the case. This led 
to my having a selection of the severer cases only, and prevented 
the doctors being offended at my taking their practice out of their 
hands. When attacked by fever myself, and wishing to ascertain 
what their practices were, I could safely intrust myself in their 
hands on account of their well-known friendly feelings. 

The plan of showing kindness to the natives in their bodily ail- 
ments secures their friendship ; this is not the case to the same 
degree in old missions, where the people have learned to look upon 
relief as a right — a state of things which sometimes happens among 
ourselves at home. Medical aid is therefore most valuable in 
young missions, though at all stages it is an extremely valuable 
adjunct to other operations. 

I proposed to teach the Makololo to read, but, for the reasons 



SEKELETU'S PEESENT. 207 

mentioned, Sekeletu at first declined ; after some weeks, however, 
Motibe, his father-in-law, and some others, determined' to brave 
the mysterious book. To all who have not acquired it, the knowl- 
edge of letters is quite unfathomable; there is naught like it 
within the compass of their observation ; and we have no com- 
parison with any thing except . pictures, to aid them in compre- 
hending the idea of signs of words. It seems to them super- 
natural that we see in a book things taking place, or having 
occurred at a distance. No amount of explanation conveys the 
idea unless they learn to read. Machinery is equally inexplica- 
ble, and money nearly as much so until- they see it in actual use. 
They are familiar with barter alone ; and in the centre of the 
country, where gold is totally unknown, if a button and sovereign 
were left to their choice, they would prefer the former on account 
of its having an eye. 

In beginning to learn, Motibe seemed to himself in the posi- 
tion of the doctor, who was obliged to drink his potion before the 
patient, to show that it contained nothing detrimental ; after he 
had mastered the alphabet, and reported the thing so far safe, 
Sekeletu and his young companions came forward to try for them- 
selves. Pie must have resolved to watch the effects of the book 
against his views on polygamy, and abstain whenever he perceived 
any tendency, in reading it, toward enforcing him to put his wives 
away. A number of men learned the alphabet in a short time 
and were set to te^ch others, but before much progress could be 
made I was on my way to Loanda. 

As I had declined to name any thing as a present from 
Sekeletu, except a canoe to take me up the river, he brought 
ten fine elephants' tusks and laid them down beside my wagon. 
He would take no denial, though I told him I should prefer to 
see him trading with Fleming, a man of color from the West In- 
dies, who had come for the purpose. I had, during the eleven 
years of my previous course, invariably abstained from taking 
presents of ivory, from an idea that a religious instructor degraded 
himself by accepting gifts from those whose spiritual welfare he 
professed to seek. My precedence of all traders in the line of 
discovery put me often in the way of very handsome offers, but 
I always advised the donors to sell their ivory to traders, who 
would be sure to follow, and when at some future time they had 



208 PEESENTS AND TRADING. 

become rich hy Ibarter, they might remember me or my children. 
When Lake Ngami was discovered I might have refused per- 
mission to a trader who accompanied us ; but when he applied 
for leave to form part of our company, knowing that Mr. Oswell 
would no more trade than myself, and that the people of the lake 
would be disappointed if they could not dispose of their ivory, I 
willingly granted a sanction, without which his people would not 
at that time have ventured so far. This was surely preferring 
the interest of another to my own. The return I got for this 
was a notice in one of the Cape papers that this "man was the 
true discoverer of the lake I" 

The conclusion I had come to was, that it is quite lawful, 
though perhaps not expedient, for missionaries to trade ; but bar- 
ter is the only means by which a missionary in the interior can 
pay his way, as money has no value. In all the journeys I had 
previously undertaken for wider diifusion of the Gospel, the extra 
expenses were defrayed from my salary of £100 per annum. 
This sum is sufficient to enable a missionary to live in the interior 
of South Africa, supposing he has a garden capable of yielding 
corn and vegetables ; but should he not, and still consider that 
six or eight months can not lawfully be spent simply in getting 
goods at a lower price than they can be had from itinerant traders, 
the sum mentioned is barely sufficient for the poorest fare and 
plainest apparel. As we never felt ourselves justified in making 
journeys to the colony for the sake of securing bargains, the most 
frugal living was necessary to enable us to be a little charitable 
to others ; but when to this were added extra traveling ex- 
penses, the wants of an increasing family, and liberal gifts to 
chiefs, it was difficult to make both ends meet. The pleasure 
of missionary labor would be enhanced if one could devote his 
life to the heatheii, without drawing a salary from a society at 
all. The luxury of doing good from one's own private resources, 
without appeariiig to either natives or Europeans to be making a 
gain of it, is far preferable, and an object worthy the ambition 
of the rich. But few men of fortune, however, now devote 
themselves to Christian missions, as of old. Presents were al- 
ways given to" the chiefs whom we visited, and nothing accepted 
in return ; but when Sebituane (in 1851) offered some ivory, I 
took it, and was able by its sale to present his son with a number 
of really useful articles of a higher value than I had ever been 



PRESENTS TO SEKELETU. 209 

able to give before to any chief. In doing this, of course, I 
appeared to trade, but, feeling I had a right to do so, I felt per- 
fectly easy in my mind ; and, as I still held the view of the inex- 
pediency of combining the two professions, I Avas glad of the pro- 
posal of one of the most honorable merchants of Cape Town, Mr. 
H. E. Rutherford, that he should risk a sum of money in Flem- 
ing's hands for the purpose of attempting to develop a trade with 
the Makololo. It was to this man I suggested Sekeletu should 
sell the tusks which he had presented for my acceptance, but the 
chief refused to take them back from me. The goods which 
Fleming had brought were ill adapted for the use of the natives, 
but he got a pretty good load of ivory in exchange ; and though 
it was his first attempt at trading, and the distance traveled over 
made the expenses enormous, he was not a loser by the trip. 
Other traders followed, who demanded 90 lbs. of ivory for a mus- 
ket. The Makololo, knowing nothing of steelyards, but suppos- 
ing that they were meant .^o. cheat them, declined to trade except 
by exchanging one bull and one cow elephant's tusk for each gun. 
This would average 70 lbs. of ivory, which sells at the Cape for 
5s. per pound, for a second-hand musket worth IO5. I, being 
sixty miles distant, did not witness this attempt at barter, but, 
anxious to enable my countrymen to drive a brisk trade, told the 
Makololo to sell my ten tusks on their own account for whatever 
they would bring. Seventy tusks were for sale, but, the parties 
not understanding each other's talk, no trade was established ; 
and when I passed the spot some time afterward, I found' that the 
whole of that ivory had been destroyed by an accidental fire, 
which broke out in the village when all the people^ were absent. 
Success in trade is as much dependent on knowledge of the lan- 
guage as success in traveling. 

I had brought with me as presents an improved breed of goats, 
fowls, and a pair of cats. A superior bull was bought, also as a 
gift to Sekeletu, but I was compelled to leave- it on account of its 
having become foot-sore. As the Makololo are very fond of im- 
proving the breed of their domestic animals, they were much 
pleased with my selection. I endeavored to- bring the bull, in, per- 
formance of a promise made to Sebituane before he died. Ad- 
miring a calf which we had with us, he proposed to give me a cow 
for it, which in the native estimation was ofiering three times its 
value. I presented it to him at once, and promised to bring hin> 

O 



210 ' THE LOOKING-GLASS. 

another and a "better one. Sekeletu was much gratified Iby my at- 
tempt to keep my word given to his father. 

They have two breeds of cattle among them. One, called the 
Batoka, because captured from that tribe, is of diminutive size, but 
very beautiful, and closely resembles the short-horns of our own 
country. The little pair presented by the King of Portugal to 
H.R.H. the prince consort, is of this breed. They are very tame, 
aVd remarkably playful ; they may be seen lying on their sides by 
th\fires in the evening ; and, when the herd goes out, the herds- 
man\)ften precedes them, and has only to commence capering to 
set them all a gamboling. The meat is superior to that of the 
large animal. The other, or Barotse ox, is much larger, and comes 
from the fertile Barotse Valley. They stand high on their legs, 
often nearly six feet at the withers ; and they have large horns. 
Those of one of a similar breed that we brought from the lake 
measured from tip to tip eight and a half feet. 

The Makololo are in the habit of shaving off a little from one 
side of the horns of these animals when still growing, in order to 
make them curve in that direction amd assume fantastic shapes. 
The stranger the curvature, the more handsome the ox is con- 
sidered to be, and the longer this ornament of the cattle-pen is 
spared to beautify the herd. This is a very ancient custom in 
Africa, for the tributary tribes of Ethiopia are seen, on some of 
the most ancient Egyptian monuments, bringing contorted-horned 
cattle into Egypt. 

All are remarkably fond of their cattle, and spend much time 
in ornamenting and adorning them. Some are branded all over 
with a hot knife, so as to cause a permanent discoloration of the 
hair, in lines like the bands on the hide of a zebra. Pieces of 
skin two or three inches long and broad are detached, and allowed 
to heal in a dependent position around the head — a strange style 
of ornament ; indeed, it is difficult to conceive in what their 
notion of beauty consists. The women have somewhat the same 
ideas with ourselves of what constitutes comeliness. They came 
frequently and asked for the looking-glass; and the remarks 
they made — while I was engaged in reading, and apparently 
not attending to them — on first seeing themselves therein, were 
amusingly ridiculous. "Is that me?" "What a big mouth I 
have!" "My ears are as big as pumpkin-leaves." "I have no 
chin at all." Or, " I would have been pretty, but am spoiled by 



MODE OF PEEPAEING SKINS. 211 

these high cheek-bones." " See how my head shoots up in the 
middle!" laughing vociferously all the time at their own jokes, 
They readily perceive any defect in each other, and give nick- 
names accordingly. One man came alone to have a quiet gaze at 
his own features once, when he thought I was asleep ; after twist- 
ing his mouth about in various directions, he remarked to himself, 
" People say I am ugly, and how very ugly I am indeed !" 

The Makololo use all the skins of their oxen for making either 
mantles or shields. For the former, the hide is stretched out by 
means of pegs, and dried. Ten or a dozen men then collect round 
it with small adzes, which, when sharpened with an iron bodkin, 
are capable of shaving off the substance of the skin on the fleshy 
side until it is quite thin ; when sufficiently thin, a quantity of 
brain is smeared over it, and some thick milk. Then an instru- 
ment made of a number of iron spikes tied round a piece of wood, 
so that the points only project beyond it, is applied to it in a card- 
ing fashion, until the fibres of the bulk of it are quite loose. Milk 
or butter is applied to it again, and it forms a garment nearly as 
soft as cloth. 

The shields are made of hides partially dried in the sun, and 
then beaten with hammers until they are stiff and dry. Two 
broad belts of a differently-colored skin are sewed into them longi- 
tudinally, and sticks inserted to make them rigid and not liable 
to bend easily. The shield is a gTeat protection in their way of 
fighting with spears, but they also trust largely to their agility in 
springing aside from the coming javelin. The shield assists when 
so many spears are thrown that it is impossible not to receive 
some of them. Their spears are light javelins ; and, judging from 
what I have seen them do in elephant-hunting, I believe, when 
they have room to make a run and discharge them with the aid 
of the jerk of stopping, they can throw them between forty and 
fifty yards. They give them an upward direction in the dis- 
charge, so that they come down on the object with accelerated 
force. I saw a man who in battle had received one in the shin ; 
the excitement of the moment prevented his feeling any pain ; 
but, when the battle was over, the blade was found to have split 
the bone, and become so impacted in the cleft that no force could 
extract it. It was necessary to take an axe and press the split 
bone asunder before the weapon could be taken out. 



212 THE FEVER. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Fever. — Its Symptoms. — Eemedies of the native Doctors. — Hospitality of Se- 
keletu and his People.'— One of their Reasons for Polygamy. — They cultivate 
largely. — The Makalaka or subject Tribes. — Sebituane's Policy respecting them. 
— Their Affection for him. — Products of the Soil. — Instrument of Culture. — The 
Tribute. — Distributed by the Chief. — A warlike Demonstration. — Lechulatebe's 
Provocations. — The Makololo determine to punish him. — The Bechuanas. — 
Meaning of the Term.— Three Divisions of the great Family of South Africans. 

On the 30th of May I was seized with fever for the first time. 
We reached the town of Linyanti on the 23d ; and as my habits 
were suddenly changed from great exertion to comparative in- 
activity, at the commencement of the cold season I suffered from 
a severe attack of stoppage of the secretions, closely resembling 
a common cold. Warm baths and drinks relieved me, and I had 
no idea but that I was now recovering from the effects of a chill, 
got by leaving the warm wagon in the evening in order to con- 
duct family worship at my people's fire. But on the 2d of June 
a relapse showed to the Makololo, who knew the complaint, 
that my indisposition was no other than the fever, with which I 
have since made a more intimate acquaintance. Cold east 
winds prevail at this time ; and as they come over the extensive 
flats inundated by the Chobe, as well as many other districts 
where pools of rain-water are now drying up, they may be sup- 
posed to be loaded with malaria and watery vapor, and many 
cases of fever follow. The usual symptoms of stopped secretion 
are manifested — shivering and a feeling of coldness, though the 
skin is quite hot to the touch of another. The heat in the ax- 
illa, over the heart and region of the stomach, was in my case 
100° ; but along the spine and at the nape of the neck 103°. 
The internal processes were all, with the exception of the kid- 
neys and liver, stopped; the latter, in its efforts to free the 
blood of noxious particles, often secretes enormous quantities of 
bile. There were pains along the spine, and frontal headache. 
Anxious to ascertain whether the natives possessed the knowl- 
edge of any remedy of which we were ignorant, I requested the 
assistance of one of Sekeletu's doctors. He put some roots into 



NATIVE REMEDIES. 



213 



a pot with water, and, when it was boiling, placed it on a spot be- 
neath a blanket thrown around both me and it. This produced 
no immediate effect ; he then got a small bundle of different kinds 
of medicinal woods, and, burning them in a potsherd nearly to 
ashes, used the smoke and hot vapor arising from them as an aux- 
iliary to the other in causing diaphoresis. I fondly hoped that 
they had a more potent remedy than our own medicines afford ; 
but after being stewed in their vapor-baths, smoked like a red 
herring over green twigs, and charmed secundem artem, I con- 
cluded that I could cure the fever more quickly than they can. 
If we employ a wet sheet and a mild aperient in combination with 
quinine, in addition to the native remedies, they are an important 
aid in curing the fever, as they seem to have the same stimulat- 
ing effects on the alimentary canal as these means have on the ex- 
ternal surface. Purgatives, general bleedings, or indeed any vio- 
lent remedies, are injurious ; and the appearance of a herpetic 
eruption near the mouth is regarded as an evidence that no inter- 
nal organ is in danger.* There is a good deal in not " giving in" 
to this disease. He who is low-spirited, and apt to despond at 
every attack, will die sooner than the man who is not of such a 
melancholic nature. 

The Makololo had made a garden and planted maize for me, 
that, as they remarked when I was parting with them to pro- 
ceed to the Cape, I might have food to eat when I returned, as 
well as other people. The maize was now pounded by the wom- 
en into fine meal. This they do in large wooden mortars, the 




Egi'ptian Pestle and Mortar, gieyes, Corn Vessels, and Kilt, identical with those in use by the '. 
kololo and MakaIalia,~-rrom Sir G. Wiikinson's "Ancient Egyptians." 



214 EXTENSIVE CULTIVATION OF LAND. 

counterpart of -which may be seen depicted on the Egyptian mon- 
uments. Sekeletu added to this good supply of meal ten or 
twelve jars of honey, each of which contained ahout two gallons. 
Liberal supplies of ground-nuts {Arachis hy^ogoea) were also fur- 
nished ef-ery time the tributary tribes brought their dues to Lin- 
yanti, and an ox was given for slaughter every week or two. Se- 
keletu also appropriated two cows to be milked for us every morn- 
ing and evening. This was in accordance with the acknowl- 
edged rule throughout this country, that the chief should feed all 
strangers who come on any special business to him and take up 
their abode in his kotla. A present is usually given in return for 
the hospitality, but, except in cases where their aboriginal cus- 
toms have been modified, nothing would be asked. Europeans 
spoil the feeling that hospitality is the sacred duty of the chiefs 
by what in other circumstances is laudable conduct. No sooner 
do they arrive flian they offer to purchase food, and, instead of 
waiting till a meal is prepared for them in the evening, cook for 
themselves, and then often decline even to partake of that which 
has been made ready for their use. A present is also given, and 
before long the natives come to expect a gift without having of- 
fered any equivalent. 

Strangers frequently have acquaintances among the under- 
chiefs, to whose establishments they turn aside, and are treated 
on the same principle that others are when they are the guests of 
the chief. So generally is the duty admitted, that one of the 
most cogent arguments for polygamy is that a respectable man 
with only one wife could not entertain strangers as he ought. 
This reason has especial weight where the women are the chief 
cultivators of the soil, and have the control over the corn, as at 
Kolobeng. The poor, however, who have no friends, often suffer 
much hunger, and the very kind attention Sebituane lavished on all 
such was one of the reasons of his great popularity in the country. 
The Makololo cultivate a large extent of land around their 
villages. Those of them who are real Basutos still retain the 
habits of that tribe, and may be seen going out with their wives 
with their hoes in hand — a state of things never witnessed at 
Kolobeng, or among any other Bechuana or Caffre tribe. The 
great chief Moshesh affords an example to his people annually 
by not only taking the hoe in hand, but working hard with it on 



PRODUCTS or SOIL.— TRIBUTE. 215 

certain pulblic occasions. His Basutos are of the same family 
with the Makololo to whom I refer. The younger Makololo, who 
have been accustomed from their infancy to lord it over the con- 
quered Makalaka, have unfortunately no desire to imitate the ag- 
ricultural tastes of their fathers, and expect their subjects to. per- 
form all the manual labor. They are the aristocracy of the 
country, and once possessed almost unlimited power over their 
vassals. Their privileges were, however, much abridged by Se- 
bituane himself. 

I have already mentioned that the tribes which Sebituane sub- 
jected in this great country pass by the general name of Maka- 
laka. The Makololo were composed of a great number of other 
tribes, as well as of these central negroes. The nucleus of the 
whole were Basuto, who came with Sebituane from a compara- 
tively cold and hilly region in the south. When he conquered 
various tribes of the Bechuanas, as Bakwains, Bangwaketze, Ba- 
mangwato, Batauana, etc., he incorporated the young of these 
tribes into his own. Great mortality by fever having taken 
place in the original stock, he wisely adopted the same plan of 
absorption on a large scale with the Makalaka. So we found him 
with even the sons of the chiefs of the Barotse closely attached to 
his person ; and they say to this day, if any thing else but natu- 
ral death had assailed their father, every one of them would have 
laid down his life in his defense. One reason for their strong af- 
fection was their emancipation by the decree of Sebituane, " all 
are children of the chief." 

The Makalaka cultivate the JTolcus sorghum, or dura, as the prin- 
cipal grain, with maize, two kinds of beans, ground-nuts [Arachis 
hypogoBa), pumpkins, watermelons, and cucumbers. They depend 
for success entirely upon rain. Those who live in the Barotse 
valley cultivate in addition the sugar-cane, sweet potato, and ma- 
nioc {Jatropha manihot). The climate there, however, is warmer 
than at Linyanti, and the Makalaka increase the fertility of their 
gardens by rude attempts at artificial irrigation. 

The instrument of culture over all this region is a hoe, the iron 
of which the Batoka and Banyeti obtain from the ore by smelt- 
ing. The amount of iron which they produce annually may be un- 
derstood when it is known that most of the hoes in use at Linyanti 
are the tribute imposed on the smiths of those subject tribes. 



216 ' WAELIKE DEMONSTRATION. 




A Batoka hoe, 



Sekeletu receives tribute from a great number of tribes in corn 
or dura, ground-nuts, lioes, spears, honey, canoes, paddles, wood- 
en vessels, tobacco, rautokuane {Cannabis sativa), various wild 
fruits (dried), prepared skins, and ivorj. When these articles are 
brought into the kotla, Sekeletu has the honor of dividing them 
among the loungers who usually congregate there. A small 
portion only is reserved for himself. The ivory belongs nom- 
inally to him too, but this is simply a way of making a fair dis- 
tribution of the profits. The chief sells it only with the appro- 
bation of his counselors, and the proceeds are distributed in 
open day among the people as before. He has the choice of 
every thing ; but if he is not more liberal to others than to 
himself, he loses in popularity. I have known instances in this 
and other tribes in which individuals aggrieved, because they 
ha.d been overlooked, fled to other chiefs. One discontented 
person, having fled to Lechulatebe, was encouraged to go to a 
village of the Bapalleng, on the River Cho or Tso, and ab- 
stracted the tribute of ivory thence which ought to have come 
to Sekeletu. This theft enraged the whole of the Makololo, 
because they all felt it to be a personal loss. Some of Lechu- 
latebe's people having come on a visit to Linyanti, a demonstra- 
tion was made, in which about five hundred Makololo, armed, 
went through a mimic fight ; the principal warriors pointed their 
spears toward the lake where Lechulatebe lives, and every 
thrust in that direction was answered by all with the shout, 
"Hoo!" while every stab on the ground drew out a simulta- 
neous "Huzz!" On. these occasions all capable of bearing 



LECHULATEBE'S PROVOCATIONS. 217 

arms, even the old, must turn out at the call. In the time of 
Sebituane, any one remaining in his house was searched for and 
killed without mercy. 

This offense of Lechulatebe was aggravated by repetition, and 
by a song sung in his town accompanying the dances, which 
manifested joy at the death of Sebituane. He had enjoined his 
people to live in peace with those at the lake, and Sekeletu 
felt disposed to follow his advice ; but Lechulatebe had now got 
possession of fire-arms, and considered himself more than a match 
for the Makololo. His father had been dispossessed of many 
cattle by Sebituane, and, as forgiveness is not considered among 
the virtues by the heathen, Lechulatebe thought he had a right 
to recover what he could. As I had a good deal of influence 
with the Makololo, I persuaded them that, before they could 
have peace, they must resolve to give the same blessing to oth- 
ers, and they never could do that without forgiving and forgetting 
ancient feuds. It is hard to make them feel that shedding of 
human blood is a great crime ; they must be conscious that it is 
wrong, but, having been accustomed to bloodshed from infancy, 
they are remarkably callous to the enormity of the crime of de- 
stroying human life. 

I sent a message at the same time to Lechulatebe advising him 
to give up the course he had adopted, and especially the song ; be- 
cause, though Sebituane was dead, the arms with which he had 
fought were still alive and strong. 

Sekeletu, in order to follow up his father's instructions and 
promote peace, sent ten cows to Lechulatebe to be exchanged 
for sheep ; these animals thrive well in a bushy country like 
that around the lake, but will scarcely live in the flat prairies 
between the net-work of waters north of the Chobe. The men 
who took the cows carried a number of hoes to purchase goats 
besides. Lechulatebe took the cows and sent back an equal 
number of sheep. J^ow, according to the relative value of sheep 
and cows in these parts, he ought to have sent sixty or seventy. 

One of the men who had hoes was trying to purchase in a 
village without formal leave from Lechulatebe ; this chief pun- 
ished him by making him sit some hours on the broiling hot 
sand (at least 130°). This farther offense put a stop to amicable 
relations between the two tribes altogether. It was a case in 



218 MEANING OF THE TEEM "BECHUANAS." 

which a very small trihe, commanded hy a weak and foolish 
chief, had got possession of fire-arms, and felt conscious of 
ability to cope with a numerous and warlike race. Such cases 
are the only ones in which the possession of fire-arms does evil. 
The universal eifect of the diffusion of the more potent instru- 
ments of warfare in Africa is the same as among ourselves. 
Fire-arms render wars less frequent and less bloody. It is in- 
deed exceedingly rare to hear of two tribes having guns going 
to war with each other ; and, as nearly all the feuds, in the south 
at least, have been about cattle, the risk which must be incurred 
from long shots generally proves a preventive to the foray. 

The Makololo were prevailed upon to keep the peace during 
my residence with them, but it was easy to perceive that public 
opinion was against sparing a tribe of Bechuanas for whom the 
Makololo entertained the most sovereign contempt. The young 
men would remark, " Lechulatebe is herding our cows for us ; let 
us only go, we shall ' lift' the price of them in sheep," etc. 

As the Makololo are the most northerly of the Bechuanas, we 
may glance back at this family of Africans before entering on 
the branch of the negro family which the Makololo distinguish 
by the term Makalaka. The name Bechuana seems derived 
from the word Chuana — alike, or equal — with the personal pro- 
noun Ba (they) prefixed, and therefore means fellows or equals. 
Some have supposed the name to have arisen from a mistake of 
some traveler, who, on asking individuals of this nation concern- 
ing the tribes living beyond them, received the answer, Bachu- 
ana, "they (are) alike;" meaning, " They are the same as we are;" 
and that this nameless traveler, who never wrote a word about 
them, managed to ingraft his mistake as a generic term on a na- 
tion extending from the Orange Eiver to 18° south latitude.* 

As the name was found in use among those who had no inter- 
course with Europeans, before we can receive the above expla- 
nation we must believe that the unknown traveler knew the 
language sufficiently well to ask a question, but not to under- 
stand the answer. We may add, that the way in which they still 
continue to use the word seems to require no fanciful interpreta- 
tion. When addressed with any degree of scorn, they reply, 

* The Makololo have conquered the country as far as 14° south, but it is still 
peopled chiefly by the black tribes named Makalaka. 



DIVISIONS OF SOUTH AEEICAN FAMILY. 219 

" We are Bachuana, or equals — we are not inferior to any of our 
nation," in exactly the same sense as Irishmen or Scotchmen, 
in the same circumstances, would reply, " We are Britons," or 
"We are Englishmen." Most other tribes are known hy the 
terms applied to them by strangers only, as the Caffres, Hotten- 
tots, and Bushmen. The Bechuanas alone use the term to them- 
selves as a generic one for the whole nation. They have man- 
ao-ed, also, to give a comprehensive name to the whites, viz., Ma- 
koa, though they can not explain the derivation of it any more 
than of their own. It seems to mean " handsome," from the man- 
ner in which they use it to indicate beauty ; but there is a word 
so very like it meaning "infirm," or "weak," that Burchell's 
conjecture is probably the right one. " The different Hottentot 
tribes were known by names terminating in hua^ which means 
' man,' and the Bechuanas simply added the prefix Ma, denoting 
a nation." They themselves were first known as Briquas, or 
" goat-men." The language of the Bechuanas is termed Sichuana ; 
that of the whites (or Makoa) is called Sekoa. 

The Makololo, or Basuto, have carried their powers of gener- 
alization still farther, and arranged the other parts of the sam-e 
great family of South Africans into three divisions : 1st. The 
Matebele, or Makonkobi — the Caffre family living on the eastern 
side of the country ; 2d. The Bakoni, or Basuto ; and, 3d. The Ba- 
kalahari, or Bechuanas, living in the central parts, which includes 
all those tribes living in or adjacent to the great Kalahari Desert. 

1st. The Caifres are divided by themselves into various subdi- 
visions, as Amakosa, Amapanda, and other well-known titles. 
They consider the name Caffre as an insulting epithet. 

The Zulus of Natal belong to the same family, and they are as 
famed for their honesty as their brethren who live adjacent to our 
colonial frontier are renowned for cattle-lifting. The Recorder of 
Natal declared of them that history does not present another in- 
stance in which so much security for life and property has been 
enjoyed, as has been experienced, during the whole period of En- 
glish occupation, by ten thousand colonists, in the midst of one 
hundred thousand Zulus. 

The Matebele of Mosilikatse, living a short distance south of 
the Zambesi, and other tribes living a little south of Tete and 
Senna, are members of this same family. They are not known 



220 Divisioisrs OF south African family. 

beyond the Zambesi River. This was the limit of the Bechuana 
progress north too, until Sebituane pushed his conquests farther. 

2d. The Bakoni and Basuto division contains, in the south, all 
those tribes which acknowledge Moshesh as their paramount 
chief. Among them we find the Batau, the Baputi, Makolokue, 
etc., and some mountaineers on the range Maluti, who are be- 
lieved, by those who have carefully sifted the evidence, to have 
been at one time guilty of cannibalism. This has been doubt- 
ed, but their songs admit the fact to this day, and they ascribe 
their having left off the odious practice of entrapping human prey 
to Moshesh having given them cattle. They are called Marimo 
and Mayabathu, men-eaters, by the rest of the Basuto, who have 
various subdivisions, as Makatla, Bamakakana, Matlapatlapa, etc. 

The Bakoni farther north than the Basuto are the Batlou, Ba- 
pefi, Bapo, and another tribe of Bakuena, Bamosetla, Bamapela or 
Balaka, Babiriri, Bapiri, Bahukeng, Batlokua, Baakhahela, etc., 
etc. ; the whole of which tribes are favored with abundance of 
rain, and, being much attached to agriculture, raise very large quan- 
tities of grain. It is on their industry that the more distant Boers 
revel in slothful abundance, and follow their slave-hunting and 
cattle-stealing propensities quite beyond the range of English in- 
fluence and law. The Basuto under Moshesh are equally fond of 
cultivating the soil. The chief labor of hoeing, driving away birds, 
reaping, and winnowing, falls to the willing arms of the hard-work- 
ing women; but as the men, as well as their wives, as already 
stated, always work, many have followed the advice of the mis- 
sionaries, and now use plows and oxen instead of the hoe. 

3d. The Bakalahari, or western branch of the Bechuana fami- 
ly, consists of Barolong, Bahurutse, Bakuena, Bangw'aketse, Ba- 
kaa, Bamangwato, Bakurutse, Batauana, Bamatlaro, and Batlapi. 
Among the last the success of missionaries has been greatest. 
They were an insignificant and filthy people when first discover- 
ed ; but, being nearest to the colony, they have had opportuni- 
ties of trading ; and the long-continued peace they have enjoyed, 
through the influence of religious teaching, has enabled them to 
amass great numbers of cattle. The young, however, who do not 
realize their former degradation^ often consider their present supe- 
riority over the less-favored tribes in the interior to be entirely 
owing to their own greater wisdom and more intellectual devel- 
opment. 



ANT-HILLS.— DATE-TREES. 221 



CHAPTER XI. 

Departure from Linyanti for Sesheke. — Level Country, — Ant-hills. — Wild Date- 
trees. — Appearance of our Attendants on the March. — The Chief's Guard. — They 
attempt to ride on Ox-back. — Vast Herds of the new Antelopes, Leches, and Na- 
kongs. — The native way of hunting them. — ^Reception at the Villages. — Presents 
of Beer and Milk. — Eating with the Hand. — The Chief provides the Oxen for 
Slaughter. — Social Mode of Eating. — The Sugar-cane. — Sekeletu's novel Test of 
Character. — Cleanliness of Makololo Huts. — Their Construction and Appearance. 
— The Beds. — Cross the Leeambye. — Aspect of this part of the Country. — The 
small Antelope Tianyane unknown in the South. — Hunting on foot. — An Eland. 

HAViNa waited a month at Linyanti (lat. 18° 17^ 20^'' S., long. 
23° 50^ d'^ E.), we again departed, for the purpose of ascending 
the river from Sesheke (lat. 17° 31^ 38^^ S., long. 25° 13^ E.). 
To the Barotse country, the capital of which is Nariele or Naliele 
(lat. 15° 24' 17" S., long. 23° 5' 54f' E.), I went in company with 
Sekeletu and ahout one hundred and sixty attendants. We had 
most of the young men with us, and many of the under-chiefs 
besides. The country between Linyanti and Sesheke is perfectly 
flat, except patches elevated only a few feet above the surrounding 
level. There are also many mounds where the gigantic ant-hills 
of the country have been situated or still appear : these mounds 
are evidently the work of the termites. No one who has not 
seen' their gigantic structures can fancy the industry of these 
little laborers ; they seem to impart fertility to the soil which 
has once passed through their mouths, for the Makololo find the 
sides of ant-hills the choice spots for rearing early maize, tobacco, 
or any thing on which they wish to bestow especial care. In the 
parts through which we passed the mounds are generally covered 
with masses of wild date-trees ; the fruit is small, and no tree is 
allowed to stand long, for, having abundance of food, the Mako- 
lolo have no inclination to preserve wild fruit-trees ; accordingly, 
when a date shoots up to seed, as soon as the fruit is ripe they 
cut down the tree rather than be at the trouble of climbing it. 
The other parts of the more elevated land have the camel-thorn 
{Acacia giraffce), white-thorned mimosa [Acacia horrida), and 
baobabs. In sandy spots there are palmyras somewhat similar 



222 THE CHIEF'S GUAKD. 

to the Indian, Ibut with a smaller seed. The soil on all the flat 
parts is a rich, dark, tenacious loam, known as the "cotton-ground" 
in India ; it is covered with a dense matting of coarse grass, com- 
mon on all damp spots in this country. We had the Chohe on 
our right, with its scores of miles of reed occupying the horizon 
there. It was pleasant to look back on the long-extended line 
of our attendants, as it twisted and bent according to the curves 
of the footpath, or in and out behind the mounds, the ostrich 
feathers of the men waving in the wind. Some had the white 
ends of ox-tails on their heads. Hussar fashion, and others great 
bunches of black ostrich feathers, or caps made of lions' manes. 
Some wore red tunics, or various-colored prints which the chief 
had bought from Fleming ; the common men carried burdens ; 
the gentlemen walked with a small club of rhinoceros-horn in 
their hands, and had servants to carry their shields ; while the 
"Machaka," battle-axe men, carried their own, and were liable 
at any time to be sent off a hundred miles on an errand, and 
expected to run all the way. 

Sekeletu is always accompanied by his own Mopato, a number 
of young men of his own age. When he sits down they crowd 
around him ; those who are nearest eat out of the same dish, for 
the Makololo chiefs pride themselves on eating with their people. 
He eats a little, then beckons his neighbors to partake. When 
they have done so, he perhaps beckons to some one at a distance 
to take a share ; that person starts forward, seizes the pot, and 
removes it to his own companions. The comrades of Sekeletu, 
wishing to imitate him in riding on my old horse, leaped on the 
backs of a number of half-broken Batoka oxen as they ran, but, 
having neither saddle nor bridle, the number of tumbles they 
met with was a source of much amusement to the rest. Troops 
of leches, or, as they are here called, "lechwes," appeared feeding 
quite heedlessly all over the flats ; they exist here in prodigious 
herds, although the numbers of them and of the "nakong" that 
are killed annually must be enormous. Both are water ante- 
lopes, and, when the lands we now tread upon are flooded, they 
betake themselves to the mounds I have alluded to. The Maka- 
laka, who are most expert in the management of their small, 
thin, light canoes, come gently toward them ; the men stand 
upright in the canoe, though it is not more than fifteen or 



EECEPTION AT VILLAGES. 223 

eighteen inches wide and ahout fifteen feet long ; their paddles, ten 
feet in height, are of a kind of wood called molompi, very light, 
yet as elastic as ash. With these they either punt or paddle, ac- 
cording to the shallowness or depth of the water. When they 
perceive the antelopes beginning to move they increase their speed, 
and pursue them with great velocity. They make the water 
dash away from the gunwale, and, though the leche goes off by a 
succession of prodigious bounds, its feet appearing to touch the 
bottom at each spring, they manage to spear great numbers of 
them. 

The nakong often shares a similar fate. This is a new species, 
rather smaller than the leche, and in shape has more of paunchi- 
ness than any antelope I ever saw. Its gait closely resembles the 
gallop of a dog when tired. The hair is long and rather sparse, 
so that it is never sleek-looking. It is of a grayish-brown color, 
and has horns twisted in the manner of a koodoo, but much 
smaller, and with a double ridge winding round each of them. 

Its habitat is the marsh and the muddy bogs ; the great length 
of its foot between the point of the toe and supplemental hoofs en- 
ables it to make a print about a foot in length ; it feeds by night, 
and lies hid among the reeds and rushes by day ; when pursued, 
it dashes into sedgy places containing water, and immerses the 
whole body, leaving only the point of the nose and ends of the 
horns exposed. The hunters burn large patches of reed in order 
to drive the nakong out of his lair ; occasionally the ends of the 
horns project above the water ; but when it sees itself surrounded 
by enemies in canoes, it will rather allow its horns to be scorched 
in the burning reed than come forth from its hiding-place. 

When we arrived at any village the women all turned out to 
luUiloo their chief. Their shrill voices, to which they give a trem- 
ulous sound by a quick motion of the tongue, peal forth, " Great 
lionl" "Great chief!" "Sleep, my lord I" etc. The men utter 
similar salutations ; and Sekeletu receives all with becoming in- 
difference. After a few minutes' conversation and telling the news, 
the head man of the village, who is almost always a Makololo, 
rises, and brings forth a number of large pots of beer. Calabash- 
es, being used as drinking-cups, are handed round, and as many 
as can partake of the beverage do so, grasping the vessels so eager- 
ly that they are in danger of being broken. 



224 SOCIAL MODE OF EATING. 

They bring forth also large pots and bowls of thick milk; 
some contain six or eight gallons ; and each of these, as well as 
of the beer, is given to a particular person, who has the power 
to divide it with whom he pleases. The head man of any section 
of the tribe is generally selected for this office. Spoons not be- 
ing generally in fashion, the milk is conveyed to the mouth with 
the hand. I often presented my friends with iron spoons, and 
it was curious to observe how the habit of hand-eating prevailed, 
though they were delighted with the spoons. They lifted out a 
little with the utensil, then put it on the left hand, and ate it out 
of that. 

As the ]\Iakololo have great abundance of cattle, and the chief 
is expected to feed all who accompany him, he either selects an , 
ox or two of his own from the numerous cattle stations that he 
possesses at different spots all over the country, or is presented 
by the head men of the villages he visits with as many as he 
needs by way of tribute. The animals are killed by a thrust 
from a small javelin in the region of the heart, the wound being 
purposely small in order to avoid any loss of blood, which, with 
the internal parts, are the perquisites of the men who perform 
the work of the butcher ; hence all are eager to render service 
in that line. Each tribe has its own way of cutting up and dis- 
tributing an animal. Among the Makololo the hump and ribs 
belong to the chief; among the Bakwains the breast is his per- 
quisite. After the oxen are cut up, the different joints are placed 
before Sekeletu, and he apportions them among the gentlemen 
of the party. The whole is rapidly divided by their attendants, 
cut into long strips, and so many of these are thrown into the 
fires at once that they are nearly put out. Half broiled and 
burning hot, the meat is quickly handed round ; every one gets a 
mouthful, but no one except the chief has time to masticate. It 
is not the enjoyment of eating they aim at, but to get as much 
of the food into the stomach as possible during the short time 
the others are cramming as well as themselves, for no one can 
eat more than a mouthful after the others have finished. They 
are eminently gregarious in their eating; and, as they despise 
any one who eats alone, I always poured out two cups of coffee 
at my own meals, so that the chief, or some one of the principal 
men, might partake along with me. They all soon become very 



MAKOLOLO HUTS. 225 

fond of coffee ; and, indeed, some of the tribes attribute greater 
fecundity to the daily use of this beverage. They were all well 
acquainted with the sugar-cane, as they cultivate it in the 
Barotse country, but knew nothing of the method of extracting 
the sugar from it. They use the cane only for chewing. Seke- 
letu, relishing the sweet coffee and biscuits, of which I then had 
a store, said "he knew my heart loved him by finding his own 
heart warming to my food." He had been visited during my 
absence at the Cape by some traders and Griquas, and " their 
coffee did not taste half so nice as mine, because they loved his 
ivory and not himself." This was certainly an original mode of 
discerning character. 

Sekeletu and I had each a little gipsy-tent in which to sleep. 
The Makololo huts are generally clean, while those of the Maka- 
laka are infested with vermin. The cleanliness of the former is 
owing to the haibit of frequently smearing the floors with a plaster 
composed of cowdung and earth. If we slept in the tent in some 
villages, the mice ran over our faces and disturbed our sleep, or 
hungry prowling dogs would eat our shoes and leave only the 
soles. When they were guilty of this and other misdemeanors, 
we got the loan of a hut. The best sort of Makololo huts consist 
of three circular walls, with small holes as doors, each similar to 
that in a dog-house ; and it is necessary to bend down the body 
to get in, even when on all-fours. The roof is formed of reeds or 
straight sticks, in shape like a Chinaman's hat, bound firmly 
together with circular bands, which are lashed with the strong- 
inner bark of the mimosa-tree. When all prepared except the 
thatch, it is lifted on to the circular wall, the rim resting on a 
circle of poles, between "each of which the third wall is built. 
The roof is thatched with fine grass, and sewed with the same 
material as the lashings ; and, as it projects far beyond the walls, 
and reaches within four feet of the ground, the shade is the best 
to be found in the country. These huts are very cool in the 
hottest day, but are close and deficient in ventilation by niglit. 

The bed is a mat made of rushes sewn together with twine : 
the hip-bone soon becomes sore on the hard flat surface, as we 
are not allowed to make a hole in the floor to receive the promi- 
nent part called trochanter by anatomists, as we do when sleep- 
ing on grass or sand. 



226 THE LEEAMBYE. 

Our course at this time led us to a part above Sesheke, called 
Katonga, where there is a village belonging to a Bashubia man 
named Sekhosi— latitude 17° 29^ 13'', longitude 24° 33^ The 
river here is somewhat broader than at Sesheke, and certainly 
not less than six hundred yards. It flows somewhat slowly in the 
first part of its eastern course. When the canoes came from Sek- 
hosi to take us over, one of the comrades of Sebituane rose, and, 
looking to Sekeletu, called out, "The elders of a host always 
take the lead in an attack." This was understood at once ; and 
fi» Sekeletu, with all the young men, were obliged to give the elders 
the precedence, and remain on the southern bank and see that all 
went orderly into the canoes. It took a considerable time to ferry 
over the whole of our large party, as, even with quick paddling, 
from six to eight minutes were spent in the mere passage from 
bank to bank. 

Several days were spent in collecting canoes from different vil- 
lages on the river, which we now learned is called by the whole 
of the Barotse the Liambai or Leeambye. This we could not 
ascertain on our first visit, and, consequently, called the river after 
the town " Sesheke." This term Sesheke means " white sand- 
banks," many of which exist at this part. There is another vil- 
lage in the valley of the Barotse likewise called Sesheke, and for 
the same reason; but the term Leeambye means "the large 
river," or the uygv par excellence. Luambeji, Luambesi, Ambezi, 
Ojimbesi, and Zambesi, etc., are names applied to it at difierent 
parts of its course, according to the dialect spoken, and all pos- 
sess a similar signification, and express the native idea of this 
magnificent stream being the main drain of the country. 

In order to assist in the support of our large party, and at the 
same time to see the adjacent country, I went several times, 
during our stay, to the north of the village for game. The 
country is covered with clumps of beautiful trees, among which 
fine open glades stretch away in every direction ; when the river 
is in flood these are inundated, but the tree-covered elevated 
spots are much more numerous here than in the country between 
the Chobe and the Leeambye. The soil is dark loam, as it is 
every where on spots reached by the inundation, while among the 
trees it is sandy, and not covered so densely with grass as else- 
where. A sandy ridge covered with trees, running parallel to, 



THE TIANYANE. 227 

and about eight miles from the river, is the limit of the inundation 
on the north ; there are large tracts of this sandy forest in that 
direction, till you come to other districts of alluvial soil and fewer 
trees. The latter soil is always found in the vicinity of rivers 
which either now overflow their banks annually, or formerly did 
so. The people enjoy rain in sufficient quantity to raise very 
large supplies of grain and ground-nuts. 

This district contains great numbers of a small antelope named 
Tianyane, unknown in the south. It stands about eighteen inches 
high, is very graceful in its movements, and utters a cry of alarm 
not unlike that of the domestic fowl; it is of a brownish-red color 
on the sides and back, with the belly and lower part of the tail 
white ; it is very timid, but the maternal affection that the little 
thing bears to its young will often induce it to offer battle even to 
a man approaching it. When the young one is too tender to run 
about with the dam, she puts one foot on the prominence about 
the seventh cervical vertebra, or withers ; the instinct of the young 
enables it to understand that it is now required to kneel down, 
and to remain quite still till it hears the bleating of its dam. If 
you see an otherwise gregarious she-antelope separated from the 
herd, and going alone any where, you may be sure she has laid her 
little one to sleep in some cozy spot. The color of the hair in the 
young is better adapted for assimilating it with the ground than 
that of the older animals, which do not need to be screened from 
the observation of birds of prey. I observed the Arabs at Aden, 
when making their camels kneel down, press the thumb on the 
withers in exactly the same way the antelopes do with their young; 
probably they have been led to the custom by seeing this plan 
adopted by the gazelle of the Desert. 

Great numbers of buffalops, zebras, tsessebes, tahaetsi, and 
eland, or pohu, grazed undisturbed on these plains, so that very 
little exertion was required to secure a fair supply of meat for the 
party during the necessary delay. Hunting on foot, as all those 
who have engaged in it in this country will at once admit, is very 
hard work indeed. The heat of the sun by day is so great, even 
in winter, as it now was, that, had there been any one on whom I 
could have thrown the task, he would have been most welcome to 
all the sport the toil is supposed to impart. But the Makololo 



228 -^ ELAND SHOT. 

shot SO badly, that, in order to save my powder, I was obliged to 
go myself. 

We shot a beautiful cow-eland, standing in the shade of a fine 
tree. It was evident that she had lately had her calf killed by a 
lion, for there were five long deep scratches on both sides of her 
hind-quarters, as if she had run to the rescue of her calf, and the 
lion, leaving it, had attacked herself, but was unable to pull her 
down. When lying on the ground, the milk flowing from the large 
udder showed that she must have been seeking the shade, from 
the distress its non-removal in the natural manner caused. She 
was a beautiful creature, and Lebeole, a Makololo gentleman who 
accompanied me, speaking in reference to its size and beauty, 
said, "Jesus ought to have given us these instead of cattle." It 
was a new, undescribed variety of this splendid antelope. It was 
marked with narrow white bands across the body, exactly like 
those of the koodoo, and had a black patch of more than a hand- 
breadth on the outer side of the fore-arm. 



ASCENT OF THE LEEAMBYE. 231 



CHAPTER XII. 

Procure Canoes and ascend the Leeambye. — Beautiful Islands. — Winter Land- 
scape. — Industry and Skill of the Banyeti. — Rapids. — Falls of Gonye. — Tradi- 
tion. — Annual Inundations. — Fertility of the great Barotse Valley. — Execution 
of two Conspirators. — The Slave-dealer's Stockade. — Naliele, the Capital, built 
on an artificial Mound. — Santuru, a great Hunter. — The Barotse Method of com- 
memorating any remarkable Event. — Better Treatment of Women. — More relig- 
ious Feeling. — Belief in a future State, and in the Existence of spiritual Beings. 
— Gardens. — Fish, Fruit, and Game. — Proceed to the Limits of the Barotse 
Country. — Sekeletu provides Eowers and a Herald. — The River and Vicinity. — 
Hippopotamus-hunters. — No healthy Location. — Determine to go to Loanda. — 
Buffaloes, Elands, and Lions above Libonta. — Interview with the Mambari. — 
Two Arabs from Zanzibar. — Their Opinion of the Portuguese and the English. — 
Reach the Town of Ma-Sekeletu. — Joy of the People at the first Visit of their 
Chief. — Return to Sesheke. — Heathenism. 

Having at last procured a sufficient number of canoes, we be- 
gan to ascend the river. I had the choice of the whole fleet, 
and selected the best, though not the largest ; it was thirt j-four 
feet long by twenty inches wide. I had six paddlers, and the 
larger canoe of Sekeletu had ten. They stand upright, and 
keep the stroke with great precision, though they change from 
side to side as the course demands. The men at the head and 
stern are selected from the strongest and most expert of the 
whole. The canoes, being flat bottomed, can go into very shal- 
low water ; and whenever the men can feel the bottom they use 
the paddles, which are about eight feet long, as poles to punt with. 
Our fleet consisted of thirty-three canoes, and about one hund- 
red and sixty men. It was beautiful to see them skimming 
along so quickly, and keeping the time so well. On land the 
Makalaka fear the Makololo ; on water the Makololo fear them, 
and can not prevent them from racing with each other, dashing 
along at the top of their speed, and placing their masters' lives in 
danger. In the event of a capsize, many of the Makololo would 
sink like stones. A case of this kind happened on the first day 
of our voyage up. The wind, blowing generally from the east, 
raises very large waves on the Leeambye. An old doctor of the 



232 ISLANDS.— THE BANYETI. 

Makololo had his canoe filled by one of these waves, and, being 
unable to swim, was lost. The Barotse who were in the canoe 
with him saved themselves by swimming, and were afraid of be- 
ing punished with death in the evening for not saving the doctor 
as well. Had he been a man of more influence, they certainly 
would have suffered death. 

We proceeded rapidly up the river, and I felt the pleasure of 
looking on lands which had never been seen by a European be- 
fore. The river is, indeed, a magnificent one, often more than a 
mile broad, and adorned with many islands of from three to five 
miles in length. Both islands and banks are covered with forest, 
and most of the trees on the brink of the water send down roots 
from their branches like the banian, or Ficus Indica. The isl- 
ands at a little distance seem great rounded masses of sylvan veg- 
etation reclining on the bosom of the glorious stream. The beau- 
ty of the scenery of some of the islands is greatly increased by 
the date-palm, with its gracefully curved fronds and refreshing 
light green color, near the bottom of the picture, and the lofty pal- 
myra towering far above, and casting its feathery foliage against a 
cloudless sky. It being winter, we had the strange coloring on 
the banks which many parts of African landscape assume. The 
country adjacent to the river is rocky and undulating, abounding 
in elephants and all other large game, except leches and nakongs, 
which seem generally to avoid stony ground. The soil is of a 
reddish color, and very fertile, as is attested by the great quan- 
tity of grain raised annually by the Banyeti. A great many 
villages of this poor and very industrious people are situated on 
both banks of the river : they are expert hunters of the hippo- 
potami and other animals, and very proficient in the manufacture 
of articles of wood and iron. The whole of this part of the coun- 
try being infested with the tsetse, they are unable to rear do- 
mestic animals. This may have led to their skill in handicraft 
works. Some make large wooden vessels with very neat lids, 
and wooden bowls of all sizes ; and since the idea of sitting on 
stools has entered the Makololo mind, they have shown great 
taste in the different forms given to the legs of these pieces of fur- 
niture. 

Other Banyeti, or Manyeti, as they are called, make neat and 
strong baskets of the split roots of a certain tree, while others 



EAPEDS AND FALLS. 233 

excel in pottery and iron. I can not find that they have ever 
been warlike. Indeed, the wars in the centre of the country, 
where no slave-trade existed, have seldom been about any thing 
else but cattle. So well known is this, that several tribes refuse 
to keep cattle because they tempt their enemies to come and steal. 
Nevertheless, they have no objection to eat them when offered, and 
their country admits of being well stocked. I have heard of but 
one war having occurred from another cause. Three brothers, 
Barolongs, fought for the possession of a woman who was consid- 
ered worth a battle, and the tribe has remained permanently divided 
ever since. 

From the bend up to the north, called Katiraa-molelo (I quench- 
ed fire), the bed of the river is rocky, and the stream runs fast, 
forming a succession of rapids and cataracts, which prevent con- 
tinuous navigation when the water is low. The rapids are not 
visible when the river is full, but the cataracts of Nambwe, 
Bombwe, and Kale must always be dangerous. The fall at each 
of these is between four and six feet. But the falls of Gonye 
present a much more serious obstacle. There we were obliged 
to take the canoes out of the water, and carry them more than a 
mile by land. The fall is about thirty feet. The main body of 
water, which comes Over the ledge of rock when the river is low, 
is collected into a space seventy or eighty yards wide before it 
takes the leap, and, a mass of rock being thrust forward against 
the roaring torrent, a loud sound is produced. Tradition reports 
the destruction in this place of two hippopotamus-hunters, who, 
over-eager in the pursuit of a wounded animal, were, with their 
intended prey, drawn down into the frightful gulf. There is also 
a tradition of a man, evidently of a superior mind, who left his 
own countrymen, the Barotse, and came down the river, took 
advantage of the falls, and led out a portion of the water there 
for irrigation. Such minds must have arisen from time to tiine 
in these regions, as well as in our own country, but, ignorant of 
the use of letters, they have left no memorial behind them. We 
dug out some of an inferior kind of potato (/Sisinydne) from his 
garden, for when once planted it never dies out. This root is 
bitter and waxy, though it is cultivated. It was not in flower, 
so I can not say whether it is a solanaceous plant or not. One 
never expects to find a grave nor a stone of remembrance set up 



234 THE BAROTSE VALLEY/ 

in Africa ; the very rocks are illiterate, they contain so few fossils. 
Those here are of reddish variegated, hardened sandstone, with 
madrepore holes in it. This, and broad horizontal strata of trap, 
sometimes a hundred miles in extent, and each layer having an 
inch or so of black silicious matter on it, as if it had floated there 
while in a state of fusion, form a great part of the bottom of the 
central valley. These rocks, in the southern part of the country 
especially, are often covered with twelve or fifteen feet of soft cal- 
careous tufa. At Bombwe we have the same trap, with radiated 
zeolite, probably mesotype, and it again appears at the confluence 
of the Chobe, farther down. 

As we passed up the river, the different villages of Banyeti 
turned out to present Sekeletu with food and skins, as their trib- 
ute. One large village is placed at Gonye, the inhabitants of 
which are required to assist the Makololo to carry their canoes 
past the falls. The tsetse here lighted on us even in the middle 
of the stream. This we crossed repeatedly, in order to make 
short cuts at bends of the river. The course is, however, re- 
markably straight among the rocks ; and here the river is shallow, 
on account of the great breadth of surface which it covers. When 
we came to about 16° 16^ S. latitude, the high wooded banks 
seemed to leave the river, and no more tsetse appeared. Viewed 
from the flat, reedy basin in which the river then flowed, the banks 
seemed prolonged into ridges, of the same wooded character, two 
or three hundred feet high, and stretched away to the N.N.E. 
and N.N.W. until they were twenty or thirty miles apart. The 
intervening space, nearly one hundred miles in length, with the 
Leeambye winding gently near the middle, is the true Barotse 
valley. It bears a close resemblance to the valley of the Nile, 
and is inundated annually, not by rains, but by the Leeambye, 
exactly as Lower Egypt is flooded by the Nile. The villages of 
the Barotse are built on mounds, some of which are said to have 
been raised artificially by Santuru, a former chief of the Barotse, 
and during the inundation the whole valley assumes the appear- 
ance of a large lake, with the villages on the mounds like isl- 
ands, just as occurs in Egypt with the villages of the Egyptians. 
Some portion of the waters of inundation comes from the north- 
west, where great floodings also occur, but more comes from the 
north and northeast, descending the bed of the Leeambye itself. 



EXECUTION OF TWO CONSPIRATORS. 235 

There are but few trees in this valley: those which stand on the 
mounds were nearly all transplanted by Santuru for shade. The 
soil is extremely fertile, and the people are never in want of grain, 
for, by taking advantage of the moisture of the inundation, they 
can take two crops a year. The Barotse are strongly attached to 
this fertile valley ; they say, " Here hunger is not known." There 
are so many things besides corn which a man can find in it for 
food, that it is no wonder they desert from Linyanti to return to 
this place. 

The great valley is not put to a tithe of the use it might be. 
It is covered with coarse succulent grasses, which afford ample 
pasturage for large herds of cattle; these thrive wonderfully, 
and give milk copiously to their owners. When the valley is 
flooded, the cattle are compelled to leave it and go to the higher 
lands, where they fall off in condition ; their return is a time of 

joy. 

It is impossible to say whether this valley, which contains so 
much moisture, would raise wheat as the valley of the Nile does. 
It is probably too rich, and would make corn run entirely to straw, 
for one species of grass was observed twelve feet high, with a 
stem as thick as a man's thumb. At present the pasturage is 
never eaten off, though the Makololo possess immense herds of 
cattle. 

There are no large towns, the mounds on which the towns and 
villages are built being all small, and the people require to live 
apart on account of their cattle. 

This visit was the first Sekeletu had made to these parts since 
he attained the chieftainship. Those who had taken part with 
Mpepe were consequently in great terror. When we came to the 
town of Mpepe's father, as he and another man had counseled 
Mamochisane to put Sekeletu to death and marry Mpepe, the two 
were led forth and tossed into the river. Nokuane was again one 
of the executioners. When I remonstrated against human blood 
being shed in the offhand way in which they were proceeding, the 
counselors justified their acts by the evidence given by Mamo- 
chisane, and calmly added, " You see we are still Boers ; we are 
not yet taught." 

Mpepe had given full permission to the Mambari slave-dealers 
to trade in all the Batoka and Bashukulompo villages to the 



236 NALIELE. 

east of this. He had given them cattle, ivorj, and children, 
and had received in return a large blunderbuss to be mounted 
as a cannon. When the slight circumstance of my having 
covered the body of the chief with my own deranged the whole 
conspiracy, the Mambari, in their stockade, were placed in very 
awkward circumstances. It was proposed to attack* them and 
drive them out of the country at once; but, dreading a com- 
mencement of hostilities, I urged the difficulties of that course, 
and showed that a stockade defended by perhaps forty muskets 
would be a very serious affair. " Hunger is strong enough for 
that," said an under-chief; "a very great fellow is he." They 
thought of attacking them by starvation. As the chief sufferers 
in case of such an attack would have been the poor slaves chained 
in gangs, I interceded for them, and the result of an intercession 
of which they were ignorant was that they were allowed to depart 
in peace. 

Naliele, the capital of the Barotse, is built on a mound which 
was constructed artificially by Santuru, and was his store-house 
for grain. His own capital stood about five hundred yards to the 
south of that, in what is now the bed of the river. All that re- 
mains of the largest mound in the valley are a few cubic yards of 
earth, to erect which cost the whole of the people of Santuru the 
labor of many years. The same thing has happened to another 
ancient site of a town, Linangelo, also on the left bank. It would 
seem, therefore, that the river in this part of the valley must be 
wearing eastward. No great rise of the river is required to sub- 
merge the whole valley ; a rise of ten feet above the present low- 
water mark would reach the highest point it ever attains, as seen 
in the markings of the bank on which stood Santuru's ancient 
capital, and two or three feet more would deluge all the villages. 
This never happens, though the water sometimes comes so near 
the foundations of the huts that the people can not move outside 
the walls of reeds which encircle their villages. When the river 
is compressed among the high rocky banks near Gonye, it rises 
sixty feet. 

The influence of the partial obstruction it meets with there is 
seen in the more winding course of the river north of 16° ; and 
when the swell gets past Katima-molelo, it spreads out on the 
lands on both banks toward Sesheke. 



BAEOTSE EEAS. 237 

Santui'u, at whose ancient granary we are staying, was a great 
hunter, and very fond of taming wild animals. His people, aware 
of his taste, brought to him every young antelope they could catch, 
and, among other things, two young hippopotami. These animals 
gamboled in the river by day, but never failed to remember to 
come up to Naliele for their suppers of milk and meal. They 
were the wonder of the country, till a stranger, happening to 
come to visit Santaru, saw them reclining in the sun, and speared 
one of them on the supposition that it was wild. The same un- 
lucky accident happened to one of the cats I had brought to Se- 
keletu. A stranger, seeing an animal he had never viewed before, 
killed it, and brought the trophy to the chief, thinking that he 
had made a very remarkable discovery; we thereby lost the 
breed of cats, of which, from the swarms of mice, we stood in 
great need. 

On making inquiries to ascertain whether Santuru, the Mo- 
loiana, had ever been visited by white men, I could find no 
vestige of any such visit ;* there is no evidence of any of San- 
turu's people having ever seen a white man before the arrival of 
Mr. Oswell and myself in 1851. The people have, it is true, no 
written records ; but any remarkable event here is commemo- 
rated in names, as was observed by Park to be the case in the 
countries he traversed. The year of our arrival is dignified by 



* The Barotse call themselves the Baloiana or little Baloi, as if they had been 
an offset from Loi, or Lui, as it is often spelt. As Lui had been visited by Portu- 
guese, but its position not well ascertained, my inquiries referred to the identity 
of Naliele with Lui. On asking the head man of the Mambari party, named Porto, 
whether he had ever heard of Naliele being visited previously, he replied in the 
negative, and stated that he "had himself attempted to come from Bihe three 
times, but had always been prevented by the tribe called Ganguellas." He nearly 
succeeded in 1852, but was driven back. He now (in 1853) attempted to go east- 
ward from Naliele, but came back to the Barotse on being unable to go beyond 
Kainko's village, which is situated on the Bashukulompo River, and eight days dis- 
tant. The whole party was anxious to secure a reward believed to be promised 
by the Portuguese government. Their want of success confirmed my impression 
that I ought to go westward. Porto kindly offered to aid me, if I would go with 
him to Bihe ; but when I declined, he preceded me to Loanda, and was publishing 
his Journal when I arrived at that city. Ben Habib told me that Porto had sent 
letters to Mosambique by the Arab, Ben Chombo, whom I knew; and he has 
since asserted, in Portugal, that he himself went to Mosambique as well as his 
letters ! 



238 THE MAMBAEI. 

the name of the year when the white men came, or of Sebituane's 
death ; but they prefer the former, as they avoid, if possible, any 
direct reference to the departed. After my wife's first visit, great 
numbers of children were named Ma-Eobert, or mother of Robert, 
her eldest child ; .others were named Gun, Horse, Wagon, Monare, 
Jesus, etc. ; but though our names, and those of the native Portu- 
guese who came in 1853, were adopted, there is not a trace of any 
thing of the sort having happened previously among the Barotse : 
the visit of a white man is such a remarkable event, that, had any 
taken place during the last three hundred years, there must have 
remained some tradition of it. 

But Santuru was once visited by the Mambari, and a distinct 
recollection of that visit is retained. They came to purchase 
slaves, and both Santuru and his head men refused them per- 
mission to buy any of the people. The Makololo quoted this 
precedent when speaking of the Mambari, and said that they, as 
the present masters of the country, had as good a right to expel 
them as Santuru. The Mambari reside near Bihe, under an Am- 
bonda chief named Kangombe. They profess to use the slaves for 
domestic purposes alone. 

Some of these Mambari visited us while at Naliele. They 
are of the Ambonda family, which inhabits the country southeast 
of Angola, and speak the Bunda dialect, which is of the same 
family of languages with the Barotse, Bayeiye, etc., or those 
black tribes comprehended under the general term Makalaka. 
They plait their hair in three-fold cords, and lay them carefully 
down around the sides of the head. They are quite as dark as 
the Barotse, but have among them a number of half-castes, with 
their peculiar yellow sickly hue. On inquiring why they had 
fled on my approach to Linyanti, they let me know that they 
had a vivid idea of the customs of English cruisers on the coast. 
They showed also their habits in their own country by digging 
up and eating, even here where large game abounds, the mice 
and moles which infest the country. The half-castes, or native 
Portuguese, could all read and write, and the head of the party, 
if not a real Portuguese, had Euiopean hair, and, influenced 
probably by the letter of recommendation which I held from 
the Chevalier Duprat, his most faithful majesty's Arbitrator in 



EELIGIOUS FEELING. 239 

the British and Portuguese Mixed Commission at Cape Town, 
was evidently anxious to show me all the kindness in his power. 
These persons I feel assured were the first individuals of Portu- 
guese blood who ever saw the Zambesi in the centre of the 
country, and they had reached it two years after our discovery in 
1851. 

The town or mound of Santuru's mother was shown to me; 
this was the first symptom of an altered state of feeling with 

reo-ard to the female sex that I had observed. There are few or 

o 

no cases of women being elevated to the headships of towns fur- 
ther south. The Barotse also showed some relics of their chief, 
which evinced a greater amount of the religious feeling than I 
had ever known displayed among Bechuanas. His more recent 
capital, Lilonda, built, too, on an artificial mound, is covered with 
different kinds of trees, transplanted when young by himself. 
They form a grove on the end of the mound, in which are to be 
seen various instruments of iron just in the state he left them. 
One looks like the guard of a basket-hilted sword ; another has 
an upright stem of the metal, on which are placed branches 
worked at the ends into miniature axes, hoes, and spears ; on 
these he was accustomed to present offerings, according as he 
desired favors to be conferred in undertaking hewing, agricul- 
ture, or fighting. The people still living there, in charge of 
these articles, were supported by presents from the chief; and 
the Makololo sometimes follow the example. This was the near- 
est approach to a priesthood I met. When I asked them to part 
with one of these relics, they replied, "Oh no, he refuses." "Who 
refuses?" " Santuru," was their reply, showing their belief in a 
future state of existence. After explaining to them, as I always 
did when opportunity offered, the nature of true worship, and pray- 
ing with them in the simple form which needs no offering from the 
worshiper except that of the heart, and planting some fruit-tree 
seeds in the grove, we departed. 

Another incident, which occurred at the confluence of the Leeba 
and Leeambye, may be mentioned here, as showing a more vivid 
perception of the existence of spiritual beings, and greater prone- 
ness to worship than among the Bechuanas. Having taken lunar 
observations in the morning, I was waiting for a meridian altitude 
of the sun for the latitude ; my chief boatman was sitting by, in 



240 GAKDENS.— GAME. 

order to pack up the instruments as soon as I had finished ; there 
was a large halo, about 20° in diameter, round the sun ; thinking 
that the humidity of the atmosphere, which this indicated, might 
betoken rain, I asked him if his experience did not lead him to 
the same view. " Oh no," replied he ; " it is the Barimo (gods or 
departed spirits), who have called a picho ; don't you see they 
have the Lord (sun) in the centre ?" 

While still at Naliele I walked out to Katongo (lat. 15° 16' 33"'), 
on the ridge which bounds the valley of the Barotse in that 
direction, and found it covered with trees. It is only the com- 
mencement of the lands which are never inundated ; their gentle 
rise from the dead level of the valley much resembles the edge 
of the Desert in the valley of the Nile. But here the Banyeti 
have fine gardens, and raise great quantities of maize, millet, and 
native corn {Holcus sorghum), of large grain and beautifully white. 
They grow, also, yams, sugar-cane, the Egyptian arum, sweet 
potato {Convolulus batata), two kinds of manioc or cassava {Ja- 
trojpha manihot and J. utilissima, a variety containing scarcely 
any poison), besides pumpkins, melons, beans, and ground-nuts. 
These, with plenty of fish in the river, its branches and lagoons, 
wild fruits and water-fowl, always make the people refer to the 
Barotse as the land of plenty. The scene from the ridge, on 
looking back, was beautiful. One can not see the western side 
of the valley in a cloudy day, such as that was when we visited 
the stockade, but we could see the great river glancing out at 
different points, and fine large herds of cattle quietly grazing on 
the green succulent herbage, among numbers of cattle-stations and 
villages which are dotted over the landscape. Leches in hund- 
reds fed securely beside them, for they have learned only to keep 
out of bow-shot, or two hundred yards. When guns come into a 
country the animals soon learn their longer range, and begin to 
run at a distance of five hundred yards. 

I imagined the slight elevation (Katongo) might be healthy, 
but was informed that no part of this region is exempt from fever. 
When the waters begin to retire from this valley, such masses of 
decayed vegetation and mud are exposed to the torrid sun that 
even the natives suffer severely from attacks of fever. The grass 
is so rank in its growth that one can not see the black alluvial 
soil of the bottom of this periodical lake. Even when the grass 



THE HEEALD. 241 

falls down in winter, or is "laid" by its own weight, one is obliged 
to lift the feet so high, to avoid being tripped up by it, as to make 
walking excessively fatiguing. Young leches are hidden beneath 
it by their dams ; and the Makololo youth complain of being 
unable to run in the Barotse land on this account. There was 
evidently no healthy spot in this quarter ; and the current of the 
river being about four and a half miles per hour (one hundred 
yards in sixty seconds), I imagined we might find what we needed 
in the higher lands, from which the river seemed to come. I 
resolved, therefore, to go to the utmost limits of the Barotse 
country before coming to a final conclusion. Katongo was the 
best place we had seen ; but, in order to accomplish a complete 
examination, I left Sekeletu at Naliele, and ascended the river. 
He furnished me with men, besides my rowers, and among the 
rest a herald, that I might enter his villages in what is considered 
a dignified manner. This, it was supposed, would be effected by 
the herald shouting out at the top of his voice, "Here comes the 
lord ; the great lion ;" the latter phrase being "tau e tona," which, 
in his imperfect way of pronunciation, became "6'au e tona," and 
so like " the great sow" that I could not receive the honor with 
becoming gravity, and had to entreat him, much to the annoyance 
of my party, to be silent. 

In our ascent we visited a number of Makololo villages, and 
were always received with a hearty welcome, as messengers to 
them of peace, which they term " sleep." They behave well in 
public meetings, even on the first occasion of attendance, probably 
from the habit of commanding the Makalaka, crowds of whom 
swarm in every village, and whom the Makololo women seem to 
consider as especially under their charge. 

The river presents the same appearance of low banks without 
trees as we have remarked it had after we came to 16° 16', until 
we arrive at Libonta (14° 59^ S. lat.). Twenty miles beyond that, 
we find forest down to the water's edge, and tsetse. Here I might 
have turned back, as no locality can be inhabited by Europeans 
where that scourge exists ; but hearing that we were not far from 
the confluence of the Eiver of Londa or Lunda, named Leeba or 
Loiba, and the chiefs of that country being reported to be friendly 
to strangers, and therefore likely to be of use to me on my return 
from the west coast, I still pushed on to latitude 14° 11^ 3^'' S. 

Q 



242 NO HEALTHY LOCATION. 

There the LeeamBye assumes the name Kahompo, and seems to 
be coming from the east. It is a fine large river, about three 
hundred yards wide, and the Leeba two hundred and fifty. The 
Loeti, a branch of which is called Langebongo, comes from 
W.N.W., through a level grassy plain named Mango ; it is about 
one hundred yards wide, and enters the Leearabye from the west ; < 
the waters of the Loeti are of a light color, and those of the 
Leeba of a dark mossy hue. After the Loeti joins the Leeambye 
the different colored waters flow side by side for some distance 
unmixed. 

Before reaching the Loeti we came to a number of people from 
the Lobale region, hunting hippopotami. They fled precipitately 
as soon as they saw the Makololo, leaving their canoes and all 
their utensils and clothing. My own Makalaka, who were accus- 
tomed to plunder wherever they went, rushed after them like 
furies, totally regardless of my shouting. As this proceeding 
would have destroyed my character entirely at Lobale, I took my 
stand on a commanding position as they returned, and forced them 
to lay down all the plunder on a sand-bank, and leave it there for 
its lawful owners. ' 

It was now quite evident that no healthy location could be 
obtained in which the Makololo would be allowed to live in peace. 
I had thus a fair excuse, if I had chosen to avail myself of it, of 
coming home and saying that the " door was shut," because the 
Lord's time had not yet come. But believing that it was my 
duty to devote some portion of my life to these (to me at least) 
very confiding and afiectionate Makololo, I resolved to follow out 
the second part of my plan, though I had failed in accomplishing 
the first. The Leeba seemed to come from the N. and by W., or 
N.N.W. ; so, having an old Portuguese map, which pointed out 
the Coanza as rising from the middle of the continent in 9° S. lat., 
I thought it probable that, when we had ascended the Leeba (from 
14° 11'') two or three degrees, we should then be within one hund- 
red and twenty miles of the Coanza, and find no difficulty in 
following it down to the coast near Loanda. This was the logical 
deduction ; but, as is the case with many a plausible theory, one 
of the premises was decidedly defective. The Coanza, as we 
afterward found, does not come from any where near the centre 
of the country. 



LIONS.— ARABS. 243 

The numlDers of large game above Libonta are prodigious, and 
thej proved remarkably tame. Eighty-one buffaloes defiled in 
slow procession before our fire one evening, within gunshot ; and 
herds of splendid elands stood by day, without fear, at two hund- 
red yards distance. They were all of the striped variety, and 
with their forearm markings, large dewlaps, and sleek skins, were 
a beautiful sight to see. The lions here roar much more than 
in the country near the lake, Zouga, and Chobe. One evening 
we had a good opportunity of hearing the utmost exertions the an- 
imal can make in that line. We had made our beds on a large 
sand-bank, and could be easily seen from all sides. A lion on the 
opposite shore amused himself for hours by roaring as loudly as 
he could, putting, as is usual in such cases, his mouth near the 
ground, to make the sound reverberate. The river was too broad 
for a ball to reach him, so we let him enjoy himself, certain that 
he durst not have been guilty of the impertinence in the Bushman 
country. Wherever the game abounds, these animals exist in 
proportionate numbers. Here they were very frequently seen, 
and two of the lai-gest I ever saw seemed about as tall as com- 
mon donkeys ; but the mane made their bodies appear rather 
larger. 

A party of Arabs from Zanzibar were in the country at this 
time. Sekeletu had gone from Naliele to the town of his mother 
before we arrived from the north, but left an ox for our use, and in- 
structions for us to follow him thitlier. We came down a branch 
of the Leeambye called Marile, which departs from the main river 
in latitude 15° 15'' 43^^ S., and is a fine deep stream about sixty 
yards wide. It makes the whole of the country around Naliele 
an island. When sleeping at a village in the same latitude as 
Naliele town, two of the Arabs mentioned made their appearance. 
They were quite as dark as the Makololo, but, having their heads 
shaved, I could not compare their hair with that of the inhabitants 
of the country. When we were about to leave they came to bid 
adieu, but I asked them to stay and help us to eat our ox. As 
they had scruples about eating an animal^t blooded in their own 
way, I gained their good-will by saying I wag quite of their opin- 
ion as to getting quit of the blood, and gave them two legs of an 
animal slaughtered by themselves. They professed the greatest 
detestation of the Portuguese, " because they eat pigs ;" and dis- 



244 TOWN OF MA-SEKELETU. 

liked the English, " because they thrash them for selling slaves." 
I was silent about pork ; though, had thej seen me at a hippopot- 
amus two days afterward, they would have set me down as being 
as much a heretic as any of that nation ; but I ventured to tell 
them that I agreed with the English, that it was better to let the 
children grow up and comfort their mothers when they became 
old, than to carry them away and sell them across the sea. This 
they never attempt to justify ; " they want them only to cultivate 
the land, and take care of them as their children." It is the same 
old story, justifying a monstrous wrong on pretense of taking care 
of those degraded portions of humanity which can not take care 
of themselves ; doing evil that good may come. 

These Arabs, or Moors, could read and write their own lan- 
guage readily ; and, when speaking about our Savior, I admired 
the boldness with which they informed me "that Christ was a 
very good prophet, but Mohammed was far greater." And witli 
respect to their loathing of pork, it may have some foundation in 
their nature ; for I have known Bechuanas, who had no prejudice 
against the wild animal, and ate the tame without scruple, yet, 
unconscious of any cause of disgust, vomit it again. The Bechu- 
anas south of the lake have a prejudice against eating fish, and 
allege a disgust to eating any thing like a serpent. This may 
arise from the remnants of serpent-worship floating in their minds, 
as, in addition to this horror of eating such animals, they some- 
times render a sort of obeisance to living serpents by clapping 
their hands to them, and refusing to destroy the reptiles ; but 
in the case of the hog they are conscious of no superstitious 
feeling. 

Having parted with our Arab friends, we proceeded down the 
Marile till we re-entered the Leeambye, and went to the town 
of Ma-Sekeletu (mother of Sekeletu), opposite the island of Lo- 
yela. Sekeletu had always supplied me most liberally with food, 
and, as soon as I arrived, presented me with a pot of boiled 
meat, while his mother handed me a large jar of butter, of which 
they make great quantities for the purpose of anointing their 
bodies. He had himself sometimes felt the benefit of my way 
of putting aside a quantity of the meat after a meal, and had 
now followed my example by ordering some to be kept for me. 
According to their habits, every particle of an ox is devoured at 



THE MAKOLOLO POLKA. 245 

one meal ; and as tlie chief can not, without a deviation from their 
customs, eat alone, he is often compelled to suffer severely from 
hunger before another meal is ready. We henceforth always 
worked into each other's hands by saving a little for each other ; 
and when some of the sticklers for use and custom grumbled, I 
advised them to eat like men, and not like vultures. 

As this was the first visit which Sekeletu had paid to this part 
of his dominions, it was to many a season of great joy. The head 
men of each village presented oxen, milk, and beer, more than the 
horde which accompanied him could devour, though their abilities 
in that line are something wonderful. The people usually show 
their joy and work off their excitement in dances and songs. The 
dance consists of the men standing nearly naked in a circle, with 
clubs or small battle-axes in their hands, and each roaring at the 
loudest pitch of his voice, while they simultaneously lift one leg, 
stamp heavily twice with it, then lift the other and give one stamp 
with that ; this is the only movement in common. The arms and 
head are often thrown about also in every direction ; and all this 
time the roaring is kept up with the utmost possible vigor ; the 
continued stamping makes a cloud of dust ascend, and they leave 
a deep ring in the ground where they stood. If the scene were 
witnessed in a lunatic asylum it would be nothing out of the way, 
and quite appropriate even, as a means of letting off the excessive 
excitement of the brain ; but here gray-headed men joined in the 
performance with as much zest as others whose youth might be 
an excuse for making the perspiration stream off their bodies with 
the exertion. Motibe asked what I thought of the Makololo dance. 
I replied, " It is very hard work, and brings but small profit." " It 
is," replied he, " but it is very nice, and Sekeletu will give us an 
ox for dancing for him." He usually does slaughter an ox for 
the dancers when the work is over. 

The women stand by, clapping their hands, and occasionally 
one advances into the circle, composed of a hundred men, makes 
a few movements, and then retires. As I never tried it, and am 
unable to enter into the spirit of the thing, I can not recommend 
the Makololo polka to the dancing world, but I have the authority 
of no less a person than Motibe, Sekeletu's father-in-law, for say- 
ing "it is very nice." They often asked if white people ever 
danced. I thought of the disease called St. Vitus's dance, but 



246 HEATHENISM. 

could not say that all our dancers were affected hj it, and gave an 
answer which, I ought to he ashamed to own, did not raise some 
of our young countrywomen in the estimation of the Makololo. 

As Sekeletu had been waiting for me at his mother's, we left 
the town as soon as I arrived, and proceeded down the river. 
Our speed with the stream was very great, for in one day we went 
from Litofe to Gonye, a distance of forty-four miles of latitude ; 
and if we add to this the windings of the river, in longitude the 
distance will not he much less than sixty geographical miles. At 
this rate we soon reached Sesheke, and then the town of Linyanti. 
' I had heen, during a nine weeks' tour, in closer contact with 
heathenism than I had ever been before ; and though all, including 
the chief, were as kind and attentive to me as possible, and there 
was no want of food (oxen being slaughtered daily, sometimes ten 
at a time, more than sufficient for the wants of all), yet to endure 
the dancing, roaring, and singing, the jesting, anecdotes, grumbling, 
quarreling, and murdering of these children of nature, seemed 
more like a severe penance than any thing I had before met with 
in the course of my missionary duties. I took thence a more in- 
tense disgust at heathenism than I had before, and formed a greatly 
elevated opinion of the latent effects of missions in the south, among 
tribes which are reported to have been as savage as the Makololo. 
The indirect benefits which, to a casual observer, lie beneath the 
surface and are inappreciable, in reference to the probable wide 
diffusion of Christianity at some future time, are worth all the 
money and labor that have been expended to produce them. 



AKKANGEMENTS FOR JOURNEY 247 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Preliminary Arrangements for the Journey. — A Picho. — Twenty-seven Men ap- 
pointed to accompany me to the West. — Eagerness of the Makololo for direct 
Trade with the Coast.— Effects of Fever.— A Makololo Question.— The lost Jour- 
nal.— Reflections.— The Outfit for the Journey.— 11th November, 1853, leave Lin- 
yanti, and embark on the Chobe. — Dangerous Hippopotami. — Banks of Chobe. — 
Tl-ees. — The Course of the River. — The Island Mparia at the Confluence of the 
Chobe and the Leeambye. — Anecdote. — Ascend the Leeambye.— A Makalaka 
Mother defies the Authority of the Makololo Head Man at Sesheke.— Punishment 
of Thieves. — Observance of the new Moon. — Public Addresses at Sesheke. — At- 
tention of the People. — Results. — Proceed up the River. — The Fruit which yields 
Nux vomica. — Other Fruits. — The Rapids. — Birds. — Fish. — Hippopotami and 
their Young. 

LiNYANTi, September, 1853. The object proposed to tlie Ma- 
kololo seemed so desirable that it was resolved to proceed with it 
as soon as the cooling influence of the rains should be felt in No- 
vember. The longitude and latitude of Linyanti (lat. 18° 11' 20''' 
S., long. 23° 50' 9'^ E.) showed that St. Philip de Benguela was 
much nearer to us than Loanda ; and I might have easily made 
arrangements with the Mambari to allow me to accompany them 
as far as Bihe, which is on the road to that port ; but it is so un- 
desirable to travel in a path once trodden by slave-traders that I 
preferred to find out another line of march. 

Accordingly, men were sent at my suggestion to examine all 
the country to the west, to see if any belt of country free from 
tsetse could be found to afford us an outlet. The search was 
fruitless. The town and district of Linyanti are surrounded by 
forests infested by this poisonous insect, except at a few points, 
as that by which we entered at Sanshureh and another at Se- 
sheke. But the lands both east and west of the Barotse valley are 
free from this insect plague. There, however, the slave-trade had 
defiled the path, and no one ought to follow in its wake unless 
well armed. The Mambari had informed me that many English 
lived at Loanda, so I prepared to go thither. The prospect of 
meeting with countrymen seemed to overbalance the toils of the 
longer march. 



248 ^ "PICHO."— ITS EESULTS. 

A " picho" was called to deliberate on the steps proposed. In 
tliese assemblies great freedom of speech is allowed ; and on this 
occasion one of the old diviners said, " Where is he taking you 
to ? This white man is throwing you away. Your garments al- 
ready smell of blood." It is curious to observe how much iden- 
tity of character appears all over the world. This man was a 
noted croaker. He always dreamed something dreadful in every 
expedition, and was certain that an eclipse or comet betokened 
the propriety of flight. But Sebituane formerly set his visions 
down to cowardice, and Sekeletu only laughed at him now. The 
general voice was in my favor ; so a band of twenty-seven were 
appointed to accompany me to the west. These men were not 
hired, but sent to enable me to accomplish an object as much de- 
sired by the chief and most of his people as by me. They were 
eager to obtain free and profitable trade with white men. The 
prices which the Cape merchants could give, after defraying the 
great expenses of a long journey hither, being very small, made 
it scarce worth while for the natives to collect produce for that 
market ; and the Mambari, giving only a few bits of print and 
baize for elephants' tusks worth more pounds than they gave 
yards of cloth, had produced the belief that trade with them 
was throwing ivory away. The desire of the Makololo for di- 
rect trade with the sea-coast coincided eScactly with my own con- 
viction that no permanent elevation of a people can be effected 
without commerce. Neither could there be a permanent mis- 
sion here, unless the missionaries should descend to the level 
of the Makololo, for even at Kolobeng we found that traders de- 
manded three or four times the price of the articles we needed, 
and expected us to be grateful to them besides for letting us have 
them at all. 

The three men whom I had brought from Kuruman had fre- 
quent relapses of the fever; so, finding that instead of serving 
me I had to wait on them, I decided that they should return to 
the south with Fleming as soon as he had finished his trading. 
I was then entirely dependent on my twenty-seven men, whom I 
might name Zambesians, for there were two Makololo only, while 
the rest consisted of Barotse, Batoka, Bashubia,' and two of the 
Ambonda. 

The fever had caused considerable weakness in my own frame, 



THE LOST JOURNAL.— REFLECTIONS. 249 

and a strange giddiness when I looked up suddenly to any celes- 
tial object, for every thing seemed to rush to the left, and if I did 
not catch hold of some object, I fell heavily on the ground : 
something resembling a gush of bile along the duct from the 
liver caused the same fit to occur at night, whenever I turned 
suddenly round. 

The Makololo now put the question, '< In the everft of your 
death, will not the white, people blame us for having allowed 
you to go away into an unhealthy, unknown country of enemies ?" 
I replied that none of my friends would blame them, because I 
would leave a book with Sekeletu, to be sent to Mr. Moffat in 
case I did not return, which would explain to him all that had 
happened until the time of my departure. The book was a 
volume of my Journal ; and, as I was detained longer than I 
expected at Loanda, this book, with a letter, was delivered by 
Sekeletu to a trader, and I have been unable to trace it. I 
regret this now, as it contained valuable notes on the habits of 
wild animals, and the request was made in the letter to convey 
the volume to my family. The prospect of passing away from 
this fair and beautiful world thus came before me in a pretty 
plain, matter-of-fact form, and it did seem a serious thing to 
leave wife and children — to break up all connection with earth, 
and enter on an untried state of existence ; and I find myself in 
my journal pondering over that fearful migration which lands us 
in, eternity, wondering whether an angel will soothe the flutter- 
ing soul, sadly flurried a's it must be on entering the spirit world, 
and hoping that Jesus might speak but one word of peace, for 
that would establish in the bosom an everlasting calm. But as 
I had always believed that, if we serve God at all, it ought to be 
done in a manly way, I wrote to my brother, commending our 
little girl to his care, as I was determined to " succeed or perish" 
in the attempt to open up this part of Africa. The Boers, by 
taking possession of all my goods, had saved me the trouble of 
making a will ; and, considering the light heart now left in my 
bosom, and some faint eflbrts to perform the duty of Christian 
forgiveness, I felt that it was better to be the plundered party 
than one of the plunderers. 

When I committed the wagon and remaining goods to the 
care of the Makololo, they took all the articles except one box 



250 OUTFIT FOR JOURNEY. 

into their huts ; and two warriors, Ponuane and Mahale, brought 
forward each a fine heifer calf. After performing a number of 
warlike evolutions, they asked the chief to witness the agreement 
made between them, that whoever of the two should kill a Mate- 
bele warrior first, in defense of the wagon, should possess both the 
calves. 

I had fhree muskets for mj people, a rifle and double-bar- 
reled smooth-bore for myself; and, having seen such great 
abundance of game in my visit to the Leeba, I imagined that I 
could easily supply the wants of my party. Wishing also to 
avoid the discouragement which would naturally be felt on 
meeting any obstacles if my companions were obliged to carry 
heavy loads, I took only a few biscuits, a few pounds of tea and 
sugar, and about twenty of coffee, which, as the Arabs find, though 
used without either milk or sugar, is a most refreshing bever- 
age after fatigue or exposure to the sun. We carried one small 
tin canister, about fifteen inches square, filled with spare shirting, 
trowsers, and shoes, to be used when we reached civilized life, 
and others in a bag, which were expected to wear out on the 
way ; another of the same size for medicines ; and a third for 
books, my stock being a Nautical Almanac, Thomson's Loga- 
rithm Tables, and a Bible ; a fourth box contained a magic 
lantern, which we found of much use. The sextant and artificial 
horizon, thermometer, and compasses were carried apart. My 
ammunition was distributed in portions through the whole lug- 
gage, so that, if an accident should befall one part, we could still 
have others to fall back upon. Our chief hopes for food were 
upon that ; but in case of failure, I took about 20 lbs. of beads, 
worth 405., which still remained of the stock I brought from 
Cape Town, a small gipsy tent, just sufficient to sleep in, a 
sheep-skin mantle as a blanket, and a horse-rug as a bed. As 
I had always found that the art of successful travel consisted in 
taking as few " impedimenta" as possible, and not forgetting to 
carry my wits about me, the outfit was rather spare, and in- 
tended to be still more so when we should come to leave the 
canoes. Some would consider it injudicious to adopt this plan, 
but I had a secret conviction that if I did not succeed, it would 
not be for want of the " knick-knacks" advertised as indispensable 
for travelers, but from want of "pluck," or because a large 



THE CHOBE.— HIPPOPOTAMI. 251 

array pf baggage excited the cupidity of the tribes through whose 
country we wished to pass. 

The instruments I carried, though few, were the best of their 
kind. A sextant, by the famed makers Troughton and Sims, of 
Fleet Street ; a chronometer watch, with a stop to the seconds 
hand — an admirable contrivance for enabling a person to take 
the exact time of observations : it was constructed by Dent, of 
the Strand (61), for the Royal Geographical Society, and selected 
for the service by the President, Admiral Smythe, to whose 
judgment and kindness I am in this and other matters deeply 
indebted. It was pronounced by Mr. Maclear to equal most 
chronometers in performance. For these excellent instruments 
I have much pleasure in recording my obligations to my good 
friend Colonel Steele, and at the same time to Mr. Maclear for 
much of my ability to use them. Besides these, I had a ther- 
mometer by DoUond ; a compass from the Cape Observatory, 
and a small pocket one in addition ; a good small telescope with 
a stand capable of being screwed into a tree. 

11^/i of November, 1853. Left the town of Linyanti, accom- 
panied by Sekeletu and his principal men, to embark on the 
Chobe. The chief came to the river in order to see that all was 
ri^ht at parting. We crossed five branches of the Chobe before 
reaching the main stream : this ramification must be the reason 
why it appeared so small to Mr. Oswell and myself in 1851. 
When all the departing branches re-enter, it is a large, deep 
river. The spot of embarkation was the identical island where 
we met Sebituane, first known as the island of Maunku, one of 
his wives. The chief lent me his own canoe, and, as* it was 
broader than usual, I could turn about in it with ease. 

The Chobe is much infested Iby hippopotami, and, as certain 
elderly males are expelled the herd, they become soured in their 
temper, and so misanthropic as to attack every canoe that passes 
near them. The herd is never dangerous, except when a canoe 
passes into the midst of it when all are asleep, and some of them 
may strike the canoe in terror. To avoid this, it is generally 
recommended to travel by day near the bank, and hy night in 
the middle of the stream. As a rule, these animals flee the 
approach of man. The "solitaires," however, frequent certain 
localities well known to the inhabitants on the banks, and, like 



252 BANKS OF THE CHOBE.— TREES. 

the rogue elephants, are extremely dangerous. We came, at 
this time, to a canoe which had been smashed to pieces by a 
blow from the hind foot of one of them. I was informed by 
my men that, in the event of a similar assault being made upon 
ours, the proper way was to dive to the bottom of the river, and 
hold on there for a few seconds, because the hippopotamus, after 
breaking a canoe, always looks for the people on the surface, 
and, if he sees none, he soon moves off. I have seen some 
frightful gashes made on the legs of the people who have had 
the misfortune to be attacked, and were unable to dive. This 
animal uses his teeth as an offensive weapon, though he is quite 
a herbivorous feeder. One of these "bachelors," living near the 
confluence, actually came out of his lair, and, putting his head 
down, ran after some of our men who were passing with very 
considerable speed. 

The part of the river called Zabesa, or Zabenza, is spread out 
like a little lake, surrounded on all sides by dense masses of tall 
reeds. The river below that is always one hundred or one hund- 
red and twenty yards broad, deep, and never dries up so much 
as to become fordable. At certain parts, where the partial absence 
of reeds affords a view of the opposite banks, the Makololo have 
placed villages of observation against their enemies the Mate- 
bele. We visited all these in succession, and found here, as 
every where in the Makololo country, orders had preceded us, 
" that Nake (flake means doctor) must not be allowed to become 
hungry." 

The banks of the Chobe, like those of the Zouga, are of soft 
calcareous tufa, and the river has cut out for itself a deep, per- 
pendicular-sided bed. Where the banks are high, as at the spot 
where the wagons stood in 1851, they are covered with magnificent 
trees, the habitat of tsetse, and the retreat of various antelopes, 
wild hogs, zebras, buffaloes, and elephants. 

Among the trees may be observed some species of the Ficus 
Indica, light-green colored acacias, the splendid motsintsela, 
and evergreen cypress-shaped motsouri. The fruit of the last- 
named was ripe, and the villagers presented many dishes of its 
beautiful pink-colored plums ; they are used chiefly to form a 
pleasant acid drink. The motsintsela is a very lofty tree, 
yielding a wood of which good canoes are made; the fruit is 



CONFLUENCE OF CHOBE AND LEEAMBYE. 253 

nutritious and good, but, like many wild fruits of this country, 
the fleshy parts require to be enlarged by cultivation : it is near- 
ly all stone. 

The course of the river we found to be extremely tortuous ; 
so much so, indeed, as to carry us to all points of the compass 
every dozen miles. Some of us walked from a bend at the vil- 
lage of Moremi to another nearly due east of that point, in six 
hours, while the canoes, going at more than double our speed, 
took twelve to accomplish the voyage between the same two 
places. And though the river is from thirteen to fifteen feet in 
depth at its lowest ebb, and broad enough to allow a steamer to 
ply upon it, the suddenness of the bendings would prevent navi- 
gation ; but, should the country ever become civilized, the Chobe 
would be a convenient natural canal. We spent forty-two and a 
half hours, paddling at the rate of five miles an hour, in coming 
from Linyanti to the confluence ; there we found a dike of amyg- 
daloid lying across the Leeambye. 

This amygdaloid with analami and mesotype contains crystals, 
which the water gradually dissolves, leaving the rock with a worm- 
eaten appearance. It is curious to observe that the water flowing 
over certain rocks, as in this instance, imbibes an appreciable, 
though necessarily most minute, portion of the minerals they con- 
tain. The water of the Chobe up to this point is of a dark mossy 
hue, but here it suddenly assumes a lighter tint ; and wherever 
this light color shows a greater amount of mineral, there are not 
musquitoes enough to cause serious annoyance to any except per- 
sons of very irritable temperaments. 

The large island called Mparia stands at the confluence. This 
is composed of trap (zeolite, probably mesotype) of a younger age 
than the deep stratum of tufa in which the Chobe has formed its 
bed, for, at the point where they come together, the tufa has been 
transformed into saccharoid limestone. 

The actual point of confluence of these two rivers, the Chobe 
and the Leeambye, is ill defined, on account of each dividing 
into several branches as they inosculate ; but when the whole 
body of water collects into one bed, it is a goodly sight for one 
who has spent many years in the thirsty south. Standing on 
one bank, even the keen eye of the natives can not detect whether 
two large islands, a few miles east of the junction, are main land 



254 DEFIANCE OF AUTHORITY. 

or not. During a flight in former years, wlien the present chief 
Sekonii was a child in his mother's arms, the Bamangwato men 
were separated from their women, and inveigled on to one of these 
islands hj the Makalaka chief of Mparia, on pretense of ferrying 
them across the Leeambye. They were left to perish after see- 
ing their wives taken prisoners by these cruel lords of the Lee- 
ambye, and Sekomi owed his life to the compassion of one of the 
Bayeiye, who, pitying the young chieftain, enabled his mother to 
make her escape by night. 

After spending one night at the Makololo village on Mparia, 
we left the Chobe, and, turning round, began to ascend the 
Leeambye ; on the 19th of November we again reached the 
town of Sesheke. It stands on the north bank of the river, and 
contains a large population of Makalaka, under Moriantsane, 
brother-in-law of Sebituane. There are parties of various tribes 
here, assembled under their respective head men, but a few 
Makololo rule over all. Their sway, though essentially des- 
potic, is considerably modified by certain customs and laws. 
One of the Makalaka had speared an ox belonging to one of the 
Makololo, and, being unable to extract the spear, was thereby 
discovered to be the perpetrator of the deed. His object had 
been to get a share of the meat, as Moriantsane is known to 
be liberal with any food that comes into his hands. The culprit 
was bound hand and foot, and placed in the sun to force him to 
pay a fine, but h6 continued to deny his guilt. His mother, 
believing in the innocence of her son, now came forward, with 
her hoe in hand, and, threatening to cut down any one who 
should dare to interfere, untied the cords with which he had 
been bound and took him home. This open defiance of authority 
was not resented by Moriantsane, but referred to Sekeletu at Lin- 
yanti. 

The following circumstance, which happened here when I was 
present with Sekeletu, shows that the simple mode of punishment, 
by forcing a criminal to work out a fine, did not strike the Mako- 
lolo mind until now. 

A stranger having visited Sesheke for the purpose of barter, 
was robbed by one of the Makalaka of most of his goods. The 
thief, when caught, confessed the theft, and that he had given 
the -articles to a person who had removed to a distance. The 



PUBLIC ADDEESSES. 255 

Makololo were much enraged at the idea of their good name 
being compromised by this treatment of a stranger. Their cus- 
tomary mode of punishing a crime which causes much indigna- 
tion is to throw the criminal into the river; but, as this would not 
restore the lost property, they were sorely puzzled how to act. 
The case was referred to me, and I solved the difficulty by pay- 
ing for the loss myself, and sentencing the thief to work out an 
equivalent with his hoe in a garden. This system was immedi- 
ately introduced, and thieves are now sentenced to raise an amount 
of corn proportioned to their offenses. Among the Bakwains, a 
woman who had stolen from the garden of another was obliged 
to part with her own entirely: it became the property of her 
whose field was injured by the crime. 

There is no stated day of rest in any part of this country, 
except the day after the appearance of the new moon, and the 
people then refrain only from going to their gardens. A curious 
custom, not to be found among the Bechuanas, prevails among 
the black tribes beyond them. They watch most eagerly for the 
first glimpse of the new moon, and, when they perceive the faint 
outline after the sun has set deep in the west, they utter a loud 
shout of "Kua!" and vociferate prayers to it. My men, for 
instance, called out, " Let our journey with the white man be 
prosperous ! Let our enemies perish, and the children of Nake 
become rich! May he have plenty of meat on this journey!" 
etc., etc. 

I gave many public addresses to the people of Sesheke under 
the outspreading camel-thorn-tree, which serves as a shade to 
the kotla on the high bank of the river. It was pleasant to 
see the long lines of men, women, and children , winding along 
from different quarters of the town, each party following behind 
their respective head men. They often amounted to between 
five and six hundred souls, and required an exertion of voice 
which brought back the complaint for which I had got the uvula 
excised at the Cape. They were always very attentive ; and 
Moriantsane, in order, as he thought, to please me, on one occa- 
sion rose up in the middle of the discourse, and hurled his staff 
at the heads of some young fellows whom he saw working with 
a skin instead of listening. My hearers sometimes put very 
sensible questions on the subjects brought before them ; at other 



256 PEOGEESS UP THE LEEAMBYE. 

times they introduced the most frivolous nonsense immediately 
after hearing the most solemn truths. Some begin to pray-to 
Jesus in secret as soon as they hear of the white man's God, with 
but little idea of what they are about ; and no doubt are heard by 
Him who, like a father, pitieth his children. Others, waking by 
night, recollect what has been said about the future world so 
clearly that they tell next day what a fright they got by it, and 
resolve not to listen to the teaching again ; and not a few keep to 
the determination not to believe, as certain villagers in the south, 
who put all their cocks to death because they crowed the words, 
" Tlang lo rapeleng" — " Come along to prayers." 

On recovering partially from a severe attack of fever which 
remained upon me ever since our passing the village of Moremi 
on the Chobe, we made ready for our departure up the river by 
sending messages before us to the villages to prepare food. We 
took four elephants' tusks, belonging to Sekeletu, with us, as a 
means of testing the difference of prices between the Portuguese, 
whom we expected to reach, and the white traders from the 
south. Moriantsane supplied us well with honey, milk, and 
meal. The rains were just commencing in this district ; but, 
though showers sufficient to lay the dust had fallen, they had 
no influence whatever on the amount of water in the river, yet 
never was there less in any part than three hundred yards of a 
deep flowing stream. 

Our progress up the river was rather slow; this was caused 
by waiting opposite different villages for supplies of food. We 
might have done with much less than we got ; but my Makololo 
man, Pitsane, knew of the generous orders of Sekeletu, and was 
not at all disposed to allow them to remain a dead letter. The 
villages of the Banyeti contributed large quantities of mosibe, 
a bright red bean yielded by a large tree. The pulp inclosing 
the seed is not much thicker than a red wafer, and is the por- 
tion used. It requires the addition of honey to render it at all 
palatable. 

To these were added great numbers of the fruit which yields 
a variety of the nux vomica, from which we derive that virulent 
poison strychnia. The pulp between the nuts is the part eaten, 
and it is of a pleasant juicy nature, having a sweet acidulous 
taste. The fruit itself resembles a large yellow orange, but the 



FRUIT.— RAPIDS. 257 

rind is hard, and, with the pips and bark, contains much of the 
deadly poison. They evince their noxious quaHties by an in- 
tensely bitter taste. The nuts, swallowed inadvertently, cause 
considerable pain, but not death ; and to avoid this inconven- 
ience, the people dry the pulp before the fire, in order to be able 
the more easily to get rid of the noxious seeds. 

A much better fruit, called mobola, was also presented to us. 
This bears, around a pretty large stone, as much of the fleshy part 
as the common date, and it is stripped off the seeds and preserved 
in bags in a similar manner to that fruit. Besides sweetness, the 
mobola has the flavor of strawberries, with a touch of nauseous- 
ness. We carried some of them, dried as provisions, more than a 
hundred miles from this spot. 

The next fruit, named mamosho (mother of morning), is the 
most delicious of all. It is about the size of a walnut, and, un- 
like most of the other uncultivated fruits, has a seed no larger 
than that of a date. The fleshy part is juicy, and somewhat like 
the cashew-apple, with a pleasant acidity added. Fruits similar 
to those which are here found on trees are found on the plains 
of the Kalahari, growing on mere herbaceous plants. There are 
several other examples of a similar nature. Shrubs, well known 
as such in the south, assume the rank of trees as we go to the 
north ; and the change is quite gradual as our latitude decreases^ 
the gradations being herbaceous plants, shrubs, bushes, small, then 
large trees. But it is questionable if, in the cases of mamosho, mo- 
bola, and mawa, the tree and shrub are identical, though the fruits 
so closely resemble each other ; for I found both the dwarf and 
tree in the same latitude. There is also a difference in the leaves, 
and they bear at different seasons. 

The banks of the river were at this time appearing to greater 
advantage than before. Many trees were putting on their fresh 
gTcen leaves, though they had got no rain, their lighter green 
contrasting beautifully with the dark motsouri, or moyela, now 
covered with pink plums as large as cherries. The rapids, 
having comparatively little water in them, rendered our passage 
difficult. The canoes must never be allowed to come broadside 
on to the stream, for, being flat -bottomed, they would, in that 
case, be at once capsized, and every thing in them be lost. The 
men work admirably, and are always in good humor: they 

R 



258 EAPIDS.— BIEDS. 

leap into the water without the least hesitation, to save the 
canoe from being caught by eddies or dashed against the rocks. 
Many parts were now quite shallow, and it required great address 
and power in balancing themselves to keep the vessel free from 
rocks, which lay just beneath the surface. We might have got 
deeper water in the middle, but the boatmen always keep near 
the banks, on account of danger from the hippopotami. But, 
though we might have had deeper water farther out, I believe 
that no part of the rapids is very deep. The river is spread 
out more than a mile, and the water flows rapidly over the rocky 
bottom. The portions only three hundred yards wide are very 
deep, and contain large volumes of flowing water in naiTow com- 
pass, which, when spread over the much larger surface at the 
rapids, must be shallow. Still, remembering that this was the 
end of the dry season, when such rivers as the Orange do not 
even contain a fifth part of the water of the Chobe, the differ- 
ence between the rivers of the north and south must be suffi- 
ciently obvious. 

The rapids are caused by rocks of dark brown trap, or of 
hardened sandstone, stretching across the stream. In some 
places they form miles of flat rocky bottom, with islets covered 
with trees. At. the cataracts noted in the map, the fall is from 
four to six feet, and, in guiding up the canoe, the stem goes 
under the water, and takes in a quantity before it can attain 
the higher level. We lost many of our biscuits in the ascent 
through this. 

These rocks are covered with a small, hard aquatic plant, 
which, when the surface is exposed, becomes dry and crisp, 
cracklino- under the foot as if it contained much stony matter in 
its tissue. It probably assists in disintegrating the rocks ; for, in 
parts so high as not to be much exposed to the action of the 
water or the influence of the plant, the rocks are covered with a 
thin black glaze. 

In passing along under the overhanging trees of the banks, 
we often saw the pretty turtle-doves sitting peacefully on their 
nests above the roaring torrent. An ibis* had perched her 
home ofi the end of a stump. Her loud, harsh scream of 

* The Eagidask, Latham ; or Tantalus capensis of Lich. 



BIRDS.— A GOOD OMEN. 259 

" Wa-wa-wa," and the piping of the fish-hawk, are sounds which 
can never be forgotten by any one who has sailed on the rivers 
north of 20° south. If we step on shore, the Charadrius carun- 
cula, a species of plover, a most plaguy sort of " public-spirited 
individual," follows you, flying overhead, and is most perse- 
vering in its attempts to give fair warning to all the animals 
within hearing to flee from the approaching danger. The alarm- 
note, " tinc-tinc-tinc," of another variety of the same family 
{Pluvianus armatus of Burchell) has so much of a metallic 
ring, that this bird is called " setula-tsipi," or hammering-iron. 
It is furnished with a sharp spur on its shoulder, much like 
that on the heel of a cock, but scarcely half an inch in length. 
Conscious of power, it may be seen chasing the white-necked 
raven with great fury, and making even that comparatively 
large bird call out from fear. It is this bird which is famed 
for its friendship with the crocodile of the Nile by the name 
siksak, and which Mr. St. John ,actually saw performing the 
part of toothpicker to the ugly reptile. They are frequently 
seen on the sand-banks with the alligator, and, to one passing 
by, often appear as if on that reptile's back; but I never had 
the good fortune to witness the operation described not only 
by St. John and Geoffrey St. Hilaire, but also by Herodotus. 
However, that which none of these authors knew my head 
boatman, Mashauana, stopped the canoe to tell us, namely, 
that a water-turtle which, in trying to ascend a steep bank to 
lay her eggs, had toppled on her back, thus enabling us to 
capture her, was an infallible omen of good luck for our jour- 
ney. 

Among the forest-trees which line the banks of the rocky parts 
of the Leeambye several new birds were observed. Some are 
musical, and the songs are pleasant in contrast with the harsh 
voice of the little green, yellow-shouldered parrots of the -country. 
There are also great numbers of jet-black weavers, with yellowish- 
brown band on the shoulders. 

Here we saw, for the first time, a pretty little bird, colored dark 
blue, except the wings and tail, which were of a chocolate hue. 
From the tail two feathers are prolonged beyond the rest six 
inches. Also, little birds colored white and black, of great vivac- 
ity, and always in companies of six or eight together, and vari- 



260 THE DAETER.— THE FISH-HAWK. 

ous others. From want of books of reference, I could not decide 
whether they were actually new to science. 

Francolins and Guinea-fowl abound along the banks ; and on 
every dead tree and piece of rock may be seen one or two species 
of the web-footed Plotus^ darter, or snake-bird. They sit most 
of the day sunning themselves over the stream, sometimes stand- 
ing erect with their wings outstretched; occasionally they may 
be seen engaged in fishing by diving, and, as they swim about, 
their bodies are so much submerged that hardly any thing ap- 
pears above the water but their necks. The chief time of feeding 
is by night, and, as the sun declines, they may be seen in flocks 
flying from their roosting-places to the fishing-grounds. This is 
a most difficult bird to catch when disabled. It is thoroughly ex- 
pert in diving — goes down so adroitly and comes up again in the 
most unlikely places, that the people, though most skillful in 
the management of the canoes, can rarely secure them. The 
rump of the darter is remarkably prolonged, a;nd capable of be- 
ing bent, so as to act both as a rudder in swimming, and as a lev- 
er to lift the bird high enough out of the water to give free scope 
to its wings. It can rise at will from the water by means of this 
appendage. 

The fine fish-hawk, with white head and neck, and reddish- 
chocolate colored body, may also frequently be seen perched on 
the trees, and fish are often found dead which have fallen vic- 
tims to its talons. One most frequently seen in this condition 
is itself a destroyer of fish. It is a stout-bodied fish, about fif- 
teen or eighteen inches long, of a light yellow color, and gayly 
ornamented with stripes and spots. It has a most imposing ar- 
ray of sharp, conical teeth outside the lips — objects of dread to 
the fishermen, for it can use them efiectually. One which we 
picked up dead had killed itself by swallowing another fish, 
which, though too large for its stomach and throat, could not be 
disgorged. 

This fish-hawk generally kills more prey than it can devour. 
It eats a portion of the back of the fish, and leaves the rest for 
the Barotse, who often had a race across the river when they 
saw an abandoned morsel lying on the opposite sand-banks. The 
hawk is, however, not always so generous, for, as I myself was a 
witness on the Zouga, it sometimes plunders the purse of the 



FISH.— IGUANOS.— HIPPOPOTAMI. 261 

pelican. Soaring over head, and seeing this large, stupid bird 
fishing beneath, it watches till a fine fish is safe in the pelican's 
pouch ; then descending, not very quickly, but with considerable 
noise of wing, the pelican looks up to see what is the matter, 
and, as the hawk comes near, he supposes that he is about to be 
killed, and roars out "Murder!" The opening of his mouth 
enables the hawk to whisk the fish out of the pouch, upon which 
the pelican does not fly away, but commences fishing again, the 
fright having probably made him forget he had any thing in his 
purse. 

A fish called mosheba, about the size of a minnow, often skims 
along the surface for several yards, in order to get out of the way 
of the canoe. It uses the pectoral fins, as the flying-fish do, but 
never makes a clean flight. It is rather a succession of hops 
along the surface, made by the aid of the side fins. It never be- 
comes large. 

Numbers of iguanos (mpulu) sit sunning themselves on over- 
hanging branches of the trees, and splash into the water as we ap- 
proach. They are highly esteemed as an article of food, the flesh 
being tender and gelatinous. The chief boatman, who occupies 
the stem, has in consequence a light javelin always at hand to 
spear them if they are not quickly out of sight. These, and large 
alligators gliding in from the banks with a heavy plunge as we 
come round a sudden bend of the stream, were the occurrences of 
every hour as we sped up the river. 

The rapids in the part of the river between Katima-molelo and 
Nameta are relieved by several reaches of still, deep water, fifteen 
or twenty miles long. In these very large herds of hippopotami 
are seen, and the deep furrows they make, in ascending the banks 
to graze during the nights, are every where apparent. They are 
guided back to the water by the scent, but a long continued pour- 
ing rain makes it impossible for them to perceive, by that means, 
in which direction the river lies, and they are found bewildered on 
the land. The hunters take advantage of their helplessness on 
these occasions to kill them. 

It is impossible to judge of the numbers in a herd, for they are 
almost always hidden beneath the waters ; but as they require to 
come up every f^w minutes to breathe, when there is a constant 
succession of heads thrown up, then the herd is supposed to be 



2Q2 HIPPOPOTAMI. 

large. They love a still reach of the stream, as in the more rap- 
id parts of the channel they are floated down so quickly that 
much exertion is necessary to regain the distance lost by frequent- 
ly swimming up again : such constant exertion disturbs them in 
their nap. They prefer to remain by day in a drowsy, yawning 
state, and, though their eyes are open, they take little notice of 
things at a distance. The males utter a loud succession of snort- 
ing grunts, which may be heard a mile off. The canoe in which I 
was, in passing over a wounded one, elicited a distinct grunting, 
though the animal lay entirely under water. 

The young, when very little, take their stand on the neck of the 
dam, and the small head, rising above the large, comes soonest to 
the surface. The dam, knowing the more urgent need of her calf, 
comes more frequently to the surface when it is in her care. But 
in the rivers of Londa, where they are much in danger of being 
shot, even the hippopotamus gains wit by experience ; for, while 
those in the Zambesi put up their heads openly to blow, those re- 
ferred to keep their noses among water-plants, and breathe so qui- 
etly that one would not dream of their existence in the river ex- 
cept by footprints on the banks. 



I 'f ' & ^ 

l|l,„l!IJr • ^S' A ^^ 




MODE OF SPENDING THE DAY. 265 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

Increasing Beauty of the Country. — Mode of spending the Day. — The People and 
the Falls of Gonye. — A Makololo Foray. — A second prevented, and Captives de- 
livered up. — Politeness and Liberality of the People. — The Kains. — Present of 
Oxen. — The fugitive Barotse. — Sekobinyane's Misgovernment. — Bee-eaters and 
other Birds. — Fresh-water Sponges. — Current. — ^Death from a Lion's Bite at 
Libonta. — Continued Kindness. — Arrangements for spending the Night during 
the Journey. — Cooking and Washing. — Abundance of animal Life. — Different 
Species of Birds. — Water-fowl. — Egyptian Geese. — Alligators. — Narrow Escape 
of one of my Men. — Superstitious Feelings respecting the Alligator. — Large 
Game. — The most vulnerable Spot. — Gun Medicine. — A Sunday. — Birds of 
Song. — Depravity; its Treatment. — Wild Fruits. — Green Pigeons. — Shoals of 
Fish . — Hippopotami. 

2>()th of November^ 1853. At Gonye Falls. No rain has fallen 
here, so it is excessively hot. The trees have put on their gay- 
est dress, and many flowers adorn the landscape, yet the heat 
makes all the leaves droop at midday and look languid for want 
of rain. If the country increases as much in beauty in front as it 
has done within the last four degrees of latitude, it will be indeed 
a lovely land. 

We all felt great lassitude in traveling. The atmosphere is 
oppressive both in cloud and sunshine. The evaporation from 
the river must be excessively great, and I feel as if the fluids of 
the system joined in the general motion of watery vapor upward, 
as enormous quantities of water must be drunk to supply its 
place. 

When under way our usual procedure is this : We get up 
a little before five in the morning ; it is then beginning to dawn. 
While I am dressing, coflee is made ; and, having filled my 
pannikin, the remainder is handed to my companions, who eag- 
erly partake of the refreshing beverage. The servants are busy 
loading the canoes, while the principal men are sipping the cof- 
fee, and, that being soon over, we embark. The next two hours 
are the most pleasant part of the day's sail. The men pad- 
dle away most vigorously ; the Barotse, being a tribe of boat- 



266 FALLS OF GONYE. 

men, have large, deeply-developed chests and shoulders, with in- 
different lower extremities. They often engage in loud scolding 
of each other in order to relieve the tedium of their work. About 
eleven we land, and eat any meat which may have remained 
from the previous evening meal, or a biscuit with honey, and drink 
water. 

After an hour's rest we again embark and cower under an um- 
brella. The heat is oppressive, and, being weak from the last at- 
tack of fever, I can not land and keep the camp supplied with 
flesh. The men, being quite uncovered in the sun, perspire pro- 
fusely, and in the afternoon begin to stop, as if waiting for the ca- 
noes which have been left behind. Sometimes we reach a sleep- 
ing-place two hours before sunset, and, all being troubled with 
languor, we gladly remain for the night. Coffee again, and a bis- 
cuit, or a piece of coarse bread made of maize meal, or that of the 
native corn, make up the bill of fare for the evening, unless we 
have been fortunate enough to kill something, when we boil a pot- 
ful of flesh. This is done by cutting it up into long strips and 
pouring in water till it is covered. When that is boiled dry, the 
meat is considered ready. 

The people at Gonye carry the canoes over the space requisite 
to avoid the falls by slinging them on poles tied on diagonally. 
They place these on their shoulders, and, setting about the work 
with good humor, soon accomplish the task. They are a merry 
set of mortals ; a feeble joke sets them off in a fit of laughter. 
Here, as elsewhere, all petitioned for the magic lantern, and, as it 
is a good means of conveying instruction, I willingly complied. 

The falls of Gonye have not been made by wearing back, like 
those of Niagara, but are of a fissure form. For many miles be- 
low, the river is confined in a narrow space of not more than one 
hundred yards wide. The water goes boiling along, and gives the 
idea of great masses of it rolling over and over, so that even the 
most expert swimmer would find it difficult to keep on the sur- 
face. Here it is that the river, when in flood, rises fifty or sixty 
feet in perpendicular height. The islands above the falls are cov- 
ered with foliage as beautiful as can be seen any where. Viewed 
from the mass of rock which overhangs the fall, the scenery was 
the loveliest I had seen. 

Nothing worthy of note occurred on our way up to Nameta. 



MAKOLOLO FORAY. 267 

There we heard that a party of the Makololo, headed by Lerimo, 
had made a foray to the north and up the Leeba, in the very 
direction in which we were about to proceed. Mpololo, the un- 
cle of Sekeletu, is considered the head man of the Barotse valley ; 
and the perpetrators had his full sanction, because Masiko, a son 
of Santuru, the former chief of the Barotse, had fled high up the 
Leeambye, and, establishing himself there, had sent men down 
to the vicinity of Naliele to draw away the remaining Barotse 
from their allegiance. Lerimo's party had taken some of this 
Masiko's subjects prisoners, and destroyed several villages of 
the Balonda, to whom we were going. This was in direct oppo- 
sition to the policy of Sekeletu, who wished to be at peace with 
these northern tribes ; and Pitsane, my head man, was the bearer 
of orders to Mpololo to furnish us with presents for the very chiefs 
they had attacked. Thus we were to get large pots of clarified 
butter and bunches of beads, in confirmation of the message of 
peace we were to deliver. 

When we reached Litofe, we heard that a fresh foray was in 
contemplation, but I sent forward orders to disband the party im- 
mediately. At Ma-Sekeletu's town we found the head offender, 
Mpololo himself, and I gave him a bit of my mind, to the effect 
that, as I was going with the full sanction of Sekeletu, if any 
harm happened to me in consequence of his ill-advised expedi- 
tion, the guilt would rest with him. Ma-Sekeletu, who was pres- 
ent, heartily approved all I said, and suggested that all the cap- 
tives taken by Lerimo should be returned by my hand, to show 
Masiko that the guilt of the foray lay not with the superior per- 
sons of the Makololo, but with a mere servant. Her good sense 
appeared in other respects besides, and, as this was exactly 
what my own party had previously resolved to suggest, we were 
pleased to hear Mpololo agree to do what he was advised. He 
asked me to lay the matter before the under-chiefs of Naliele, 
and when we reached that place, on the 9th of December, I 
did so in a picho, called expressly for the purpose. Lerimo 
was present, and felt rather crestfallen when his exploit was 
described by Mohorisi, one of my companions, as one of ex- 
treme cowardice, he having made an attack upon the defenseless 
villagers of Londa, while, as we had found on our former visit, 
a lion had actually killed eight people of Naliele without his 



268 LIBEKALITY OF THE PEOPLE. 

daring to encounter it. The Makololo are cowardly in respect 
to animals, but brave against men. Mpololo took all tbe guilt 
upon himself before the people, and delivered up a captive child 
whom his wife had in her possession ; others followed his ex- 
ample, till we procured the release of five of the prisoners. Some 
thought, as Masiko had tried to take their children by strat- 
agem, they ought to take his by force, as the two modes suited 
the genius of each people — the Makalaka delight in cunning, 
and the Makololo in fighting; and others thought, if Sekeletu 
meant them to be at peace with Masiko, he ought to have told 
them so. 

It is rather dangerous to tread in the footsteps of a marauding 
party with men of the same tribe as the aggressors, but my peo- 
ple were in good spirits, and several volunteers even offered to join 
our ranks. We, however, adhered strictly to the orders of Seke- 
letu as as to our companions, and refused all others. 

The people of every village treated us most liberally, pre- 
senting, besides oxen, butter, milk, and meal, more than we could 
stow away in our canoes. The cows in this valley are now 
yielding, as they frequently do, more milk than the people can 
use, and both men and women present butter in such quantity 
that I shall be able to refresh my men as we move along. Anoint- 
ing the skin prevents the excessive evaporation of the fluids of 
the body, and acts as clothing in both sun and shade. They al- 
ways made their presents gracefully. When an ox was given, 
the owner would say, " Here is a little bit of bread for you." 
This was pleasing, for I had been accustomed to the Bechuanas 
presenting a miserable goat, with the pompous exclamation, "Be- 
hold an ox!" The women persisted in giving me copious sup- 
plies of shrill praises, or " luUilooing ;" but, though I frequently 
told them to modify their " great lords" and " great lions" to more 
humble expressions, they so evidently intended to do me honor 
that I could not help being pleased with the poor creatures' wishes 
for our success. 

The rains began while we were at Naliele ; this is much later 
than usual ; but, though the Barotse valley has been in need of 
rain, the people never lack abundance of food. The showers 
are refreshing, but the air feels hot and close ; the thermometer, 
however, in a cool hut, stands only at 84°. The access of the 



SEKOBINYANE'S MISGOVERNMENT, 269 

external air to any spot at once raises its temperature above 90°. 
A new attack of fever here caused excessive languor ; but, as I 
am already getting tired of quoting my fevers, and never liked 
to read travels myself where much was said about the illnesses 
of the traveler, I shall henceforth endeavor to say little about 
them. 

We here sent back the canoe of Sekeletu, and got the loan of 
others from Mpololo. Eight riding oxen, and seven for slaughter, 
were, according to the orders of that chief, also furnished ; some 
were intended for our own use, and others as presents to the 
chiefs of the Balonda. . Mpololo was particularly liberal in giving 
all that Sekeletu ordered, though, as he feeds on the cattle he 
has in charge, he might have felt it so much abstracted from his 
own perquisites. Mpololo now acts the great man, and is fol- 
lowed every where by a crowd of toadies, who sing songs in dis- 
paragement of Mpepe, of whom he always lived in fear. While 
Mpepe was alive, he too was regaled with the same fulsome 
adulation, and now they curse him. They are very foul-tongued ; 
equals, on meeting, often greet each other with a profusion of 
oaths, and end the volley with a laugh. 

In coming up the river to Naliele we met a party of fugitive 
Barotse returning to their homes, and, as the circumstance illus- 
trates the social status of these subjects of the Makololo, I intro- 
duce it here. The villagers in question were the children, or 
serfs, if we may use the term, of a young man of the same age 
and tribe as Sekeletu, who, being of an irritable temper, went 
by the nickname of Sekobinyane — a little slavish thing. His 
treatment of his servants was so bad that most of them had fled ; 
and when the Mambari came, and, contrary to the orders of 
Sekeletu, purchased slaves, Sekobinyane sold one or two of the 
Barotse children of his village. The rest fled immediately to 
Masiko, and were gladly received by that Barotse chief as his 
subjects. 

When Sekeletu and I first ascended the Leeambye, we met 
Sekobinyane coming down, on his way to Linyanti. On being 
asked the news, he remained silent about the loss of his village, 
it being considered a crime among the Makololo for any one to 
treat his people so ill as to cause them to run away from him. 
He then passed us, and, dreading the vengeance of Sekeletu for 



270 FUGITIVES.— THE BEE-EATEE. 

his crime, secretly made his escape from Linyanti to Lake Ngami. 
He was sent for, however, and the chief at the lake delivered him 
up, on Sekeletu declaring that he had no intention of punishing 
him otherwise than by scolding. He did not even do that, as 
Sekobinyane was evidently terrified enough, and also became ill 
through fear. 

The fugitive villagers remained only a few weeks with their 
new master Masiko, and then fled back again, and were received 
as if they had done nothing wrong. All united in abusing the 
conduct of Sekobinyane, and no one condemned the fugitives ; 
and the cattle, the use of which they had previously enjoyed, never 
having been removed from their village, they re-established them- 
selves with apparent gladness. 

This incident may give some idea of the serfdom of the subject 
tribes, and, except that they are sometimes punished for running 
away and other offenses, I can add nothing more by way of show- 
ing the true nature of this form of servitude. 

Leaving Naliele, amid abundance of good wishes for the success 
of our expedition, and hopes that we might return accompanied 
with white traders, we began again our ascent of the river. It 
was now beginning to rise, though the rains had but just com- 
menced in the valley. The banks are low, but cleanly cut, and 
seldom sloping. At low water they are from four to eight feet 
high, and make the river always assume very much the aspect 
of a canal. They are in some parts of whitish, tenacious clay, 
with strata of black clay intermixed, and black loam in sand, or 
pure sand stratified. As the river rises it is always wearing to 
one side or the other, and is known to have cut across from one 
bend to another, and to form new channels. As we coast along 
the shore, pieces which are undermined often fall in with a splash 
like that caused by the plunge of an alligator, and endangei' the 
canoe. 

These perpendicular banks afford building-places to a pretty* 
bee-eater,* which loves to breed in society. The face of the 
sand-bank is perforated with hundreds of holes leading to their 
nests, each of which is about a foot apart from the other ; and 
as we pass they pour out of their hiding-places, and float over- 
head. 

* Merops apiaster and M. bullockoides (Smitlt). 



BIKDS.— SPONGES. 271 

A speckled kingfisher is seen nearly every hundred yards, 
which builds in similar spots, and attracts the attention of herd- 
boys, who dig out its nest for the sake of the young. This, and 
a most lovely little blue and orange kingfisher, are seen every 
where along the banks, dashing down like a shot into the water 
for their prey. A third, seen more rarely, is as large as a pigeon, 
and is of a slaty color. 

Another inhabitant of the banks is the sand-martin, which 
also likes company in the work of raising a family. They 
never leave this part of the country. One may see them 
preening themselves in the very depth of winter, while the 
swallows, of which we shall yet speak, take winter trips. I 
saw sand-martins at the Orange River during a period of winter 
frost ; it is, therefore, probable that they do not" migrate even 
from thence. 

Around the reeds, which in some parts line the banks, we see 
fresh-water sponges. They usually encircle the stalk, and are 
hard and brittle, presenting numbers of small round grains near 
their circumference. 

The river was running at the rate of five miles an hour, and 
carried bunches of reed and decaying vegetable matter on its sur- 
face ; yet the water was not discolored. It had, however, a slight- 
ly yellowish-green tinge, somewhat deeper than its natural color. 
This arose from the quantity of sand carried by the rising flood 
from sand-banks, which are annually shifted from one spot to 
another, and from the pieces falling in as the banks are worn ; 
for when the water is allowed to stand in a glass, a few sec- 
onds suffice for its deposit at the bottom. This is considered 
an unhealthy period. When waiting, on one occasion, for the 
other canoes to come up, I felt no inclination to leave the one I 
was in ; but my head boatman, Mashauana, told me never to re- 
main on board while so much vegetable matter was floating down 
the stream. 

Vlth December. At Libonta. We were detained for days to- 
gether collecting contributions of fat and butter, according to the 
orders of Sekeletu, as presents to the Balonda chiefs. Much fe- 
ver prevailed, and ophthalmia was rife, as is generally the case 
before the rains begin. Some of my own men required my as- 
sistance, as well as the people of Libonta. A lion had done a 



272 • LIBONTA. 

good deal of mischief here, and when the people went to attack it 
two men were badly wounded ; one of them had his thigh-hone 
quite broken, showing the prodigious power of this animal's jaws. 
The inflammation produced by the teeth- wounds proved fatal to 
one of them. 

Here we demanded the remainder of the captives, and got our 
number increased to nineteen. They consisted of women and 
children, and one young man of twenty. One of the boys was 
smuggled away in . the crowd as we embarked. The Makololo 
under-chiefs often act in direct opposition to the will of the head 
chief, trusting to circumstances and brazenfacedness to screen 
themselves from his open displeasure ; and as he does not always 
find it convenient to notice faults, they often go to considerable 
lengths in wrong-doing. 

Libonta is the last town of the Makololo ; so, when we parted 
from it, we had only a few cattle-stations and outlying hamlets 
in front, and then an uninhabited border country till we came 
to Londa or Lunda. Libonta is situated on a mound like the 
rest of the villages in the Barotse valley, but here the tree- 
covered sides of the valley begin to approach nearer the river. 
The village itself belongs to two of the chief wives of Sebituane, 
who furnished us with an ox and abundance of other food. The 
same kindness was manifested by all who could afford to give 
any thing ; and as I glance over their deeds of generosity re- 
corded in my journal, my heart glows with gratitude to them, 
and I hope and pray that God may spare me to make them some 
return. 

Before leaving the villages entirely, we may glance at our way 
of spending the nights. As soon as we land, some of the men cut 
a little grass for my bed, while Mashuana plants the poles of 
the little tent. These are used by day for carrying burdens, for 
the Barotse fashion is exactly like that of the natives of India, 
only the burden is fastened near the ends of the pole, and not 
suspended by long cords. The bed is made, and boxes ranged 
on each side of it, and then the tent pitched over all. Four or 
five feet in front of my tent is placed the principal or kotla fire, 
the wood for which must be collected by the man who occupies 
the post of herald, and takes as his perquisite the heads of all the 
oxen slaughtered, and of all the game too. Each person knows 



MODE OF PASSING THE NIGHT. 273 

the station he is to occupy, in reference to the post of honor at 
the fire in front of the door of the tent. The two Makololo 
occupy my right and left, both in eating and sleeping, as long 
as the journey lasts. But Mashauana, my head boatman, 
makes his -bed at the door of the tent as soon as I retire. The 
rest, divided into small companies according to their tribes, 
make sheds all round the fire, leaving a horseshoe-shaped space 
in front sufficient for the cattle to stand in. The fire gives 
confidence to the oxen, so the men are always careful to keep 
them in sight of it. The sheds are formed by planting two 
stout forked poles in an inclined direction, and placing another 
over these in a horizontal position. A number of branches are 
then stuck in the ground in the direction to which the poles 
are inclined, the twigs drawn down to the horizontal pole and 
tied with strips of bark. Long grass is then laid over the 
branches in sufficient quantity to draw off the rain, and we have 
sheds open to the fire in front, but secure from beasts behind. 
In less than an hour we Tvere usually all under cover. We 
never lacked abundance of grass during the whole journey. It is 
a picturesque sight at night, when the clear bright moon of these 
climates glances on the sleeping forms around, to look out upon 
the attitudes of profound repose both men and beasts assume. 
There being no danger from wild animals in such a night, the fires 
are allowed almost to go out ; and as there is no fear of hungTy 
dogs coming over sleepers and devouring the food, or quietly eat- 
ing up the poor fellows' blankets, which at best were but greasy 
skins, which sometimes happened in the villages, the picture was 
one of perfect peace. 

The cooking is usually done in the natives' own style, and, 
as they carefully wash the dishes, pots, and the hands before 
handling food, it is by no means despicable. Sometimes altera- 
tions are made at my suggestion, and then they believe that 
they can cook in thorough white man's fashion. The cook always 
comes in for something left in the pot, so all are eager to obtain 
the office. 

I taught several of them to wash my shirts, and they did it 
well, though their teacher had never been taught that work 
himself. Frequent changes of linen and sunning of my blanket 
kept me more comfortable than might have been anticipated, 

S 



274 ABUNDANCE OF ANIMAL LIFE. 

and I feel certain that the lessons of cleanliness rigidly instilled 
hy my mother in childhood helped to maintain that respect 
which these people entertain for European ways. It is question- 
able if a descent to barbarous ways ever elevates a man in the 
eyes of savages. 

When quite beyond the inhabited parts, we found the country 
abounding in animal life of every form. There are upward of 
thirty species of birds on the river itself. Hundreds of the Ibis 
religiosa come down the Leeambye with the rising water, as they 
do on the Nile ; then large white pelicans, in flocks of three hund- 
red at a time, following each other in long extending line, rising 
and falling as they fly so regularly all along as to look like an 
extended coil of birds ; clouds of a black shell-eating bird, called 
linongolo {Anastomus lamelligerus) ; also plovers, snipes, curlews, 
and herons without number. 

There are, besides the more common, some strange varieties. 
The pretty white ardetta is seen in flocks, settling on the backs 
of large herds of buffaloes, and following them on the wing 
when they run; while the kala {Textor erythrorhynchus) is a 
better horseman, for it sits on the withers when the animal is at 
full speed. 

Then those strange birds, the scissor-bills, with snow-white 
breast, jet-black coat, and red beak, sitting by day on the sand- 
banks, the very picture of comfort and repose. Their nests are 
only little hollows made on these same sand-banks, without any 
attempt of concealment ; they watch them closely, and frighten 
away the marabou and crows from their eggs by feigned attacks 
at their heads. When man approaches their nests, they change 
their tactics, and, like the lapwing and ostrich, let one wing 
drop and make one leg limp, as if lame. The upper mandible 
being so much shorter than the lower, the young are more help- 
less than the stork in the fable with the flat dishes, and must 
have every thing conveyed into the mouth by the parents till 
they are able to provide for themselves. The lower mandible, 
as thin as a paper-knife, is put into the water while the bird 
skims along the surface, and scoops up any little insects it 
meets. It has great length of wing,, and can continue its flight 
with perfect ease, the wings acting, though kept above the 
level of the body. The wonder is, how this plowing of the 



WATER-FOWL. 275 

surface of the water can be so well performed as to yield a 
meal, for it is usually done in the dark. Like most aquatic 
feeders, they work by night, when insects and fishes rise to 
the surface. They have great affection for their young, its 
amount being increased in proportion to the helplessness of the 
offspring. 

There are also numbers of spoonbills, nearly white in plumage ; 
the beautiful, stately flamingo ; the JSFumidian crane, or demoi- 
selle, some of which, tamed at Government House, Cape Town, 
struck evSry one as most graceful ornaments to a noble mansion, 
as they perched on its pillars. There are two cranes besides — 
one light blue, the other also light blue, but with a white neck ; 
and gulls {Procellarici) of different sizes abound. 

One pretty little wader, an avoset, appears as if standing on 
stilts, its legs are so long ; and its bill seems bent the wrong way, 
or upward. It is constantly seen wading in the shallows, digging 
up little slippery insects, the peculiar form of the bill enabling it 
to work them easily out of the sand. When feeding, it puts its 
head under the water to seize the insect at the bottom, then lifts 
it up quickly, making a rapid gobbling, as if swallowing a wrig- 
gling worm. 

The Parra Africana runs about on the surface, as if walking 
on water, catching insects. It too has long, thin legs, and ex- 
tremely long toes, for the purpose of enabling it to stand on the 
floating lotus-leaves and other aquatic plants. When it stands 
on a lotus-leaf five inches in diameter, the spread of the toes, act- 
ing on the principle of snow-shoes, occupies all the surface, and it 
never sinks, though it obtains a livelihood, not by swimming or 
flying, but by walking on the water. 

Water-birds, whose prey or food requires a certain aim or ac-^ 
tion in one direction, have bills quite straight in form, as the her^ 
on and snipe ; while those which are intended to come in con- 
tact v/ith hard substances, as breaking shells, have the bills gen- 
tly curved, in order that the shock may not be communicated to 
the brain. 

The Barotse valley contains great numbers of large black 
geese.* They may be seen every where walking slowly about, 

* Anser leucagaster and melanogaster. 



276 WATER-FOWL.— ALLIGATOES. 

feeding. They have a strong black spur on the shoulder, like the 
armed plover, and as strong as that on the heel of a cock, but are 
never seen to use them, except in defense of their young. They 
choose ant-hills for their nests, and in the time of laying the 
Barotse consume vast quantities of their eggs. There are also 
two varieties of geese, of somewhat smaller size, but better 
eating. One of these, the Egyptian goose, or Vulpanser, can not 
rise from the water, and during the floods of the river great 
numbers are killed by being pursued in canoes. The third is 
furnished with a peculiar knob on the beak. These, with myri- 
ads of ducks of three varieties, abound every where on the Lee- 
ambye. On one occasion the canoe neared. a bank on which a 
large flock was sitting. Two shots furnished our whole party 
with a supper, for we picked up seventeen ducks and a goose. 
No wonder the Barotse always look back to this fruitful valley as 
the Israelites did to the flesh-pots of Egypt. The poorest per- 
sons are so well supplied with food from their gardens, fruits from 
the forest trees, and fish from the river, that their children, when 
taken into the service of the Makololo, where they have only one 
large meal a day, become quite emaciated, and pine for a return to 
their parents. 

Part of our company marched along the banks with the oxen, 
and part went in the canoes, but our pace was regulated by 
the speed of the men on shore. Their course was rather difficult, 
on account of the numbers of departing and re-entering branches 
of the Leeambye, which they had to avoid or wait at till we 
ferried them over. The number of alligators is prodigious, and 
in this river they are more savage than in some others. Many 
children are carried ofl" annually at Sesheke and other towns ; 
for, notwithstanding the danger, when they go down for water 
they almost always must play a while. This reptile is said by 
the natives to strike the victim with its tail, then drag him in and 
drown him. When lying in the water watching for prey, the 
body never appears. Many calves are lost also, and it is seldom 
that a number of cows can swim over at Sesheke without some 
loss. I never could avoid shuddering on seeing my men 
swimming across these branches, after one of them had been 
caught by the thigh and taken below. He, however, retained, as 
nearly all of them in the most trying circumstances do, his full 



ALLIGATOES.— SUPERSTITION. 277 

presence of mind, and, having a small, square, ragged -edged 
javelin with him, when dragged to the bottom gave the alligator 
a stab behind the shoulder. The alligator, writhing in pain, left 
him, and he came out with the deep marks of the reptile's teeth 
on his thigh. Here the people have no antipathy to persons who 
have met with such an adventure, but, in the Bamangwato and 
Bakwain tribes, if a man is either bitten or even has had water 
splashed over him by the reptile's tail, he is expelled his tribe. 
When on the Zouga we saw one of the Bamangwato living among 
the Bayeiye, who had the misfortune to have been bitten and 
driven out of his tribe in consequence. Fearing that I would re- 
gard him with the same disgust which his countrymen profess to 
feel, he would not tell me the cause of his exile, but the Bayeiye 
informed me of it, and the scars • of the teeth were visible on his 
thigh. If the Bakwains happened to go near an alligator they 
would spit on the ground, and indicate its presence by saying 
"Boleo ki bo" — "There is sin." They imagine the mere sight 
of it would give inflammation of the eyes ; and though they eat 
the zebra without hesitation, yet if one bites a man he is expelled 
the tribe, and obliged to take his wife and family away to the 
Kalahari. These curious relics of the animal- worship of former 
times scarcely exist among the Makololo. Sebituane acted on 
the principle, "Whatever is food for men is food for me;" so no 
man is here considered unclean. The Barotse appear inclined to 
pray to alligators and eat thera too, for when I wounded a water- 
antelope, called mochose, it took to the water ; when near the 
other side of the river an alligator appeared at its tail, and then 
both sank together. Mashauana, who was nearer to it than I, told 
me that, " though he had called to it to let his meat alone, it re- 
fused to listen." One day we passed some Barotse lads who had 
speared an alligator, and were waiting in expectation of its floating 
soon after. The meat has a strong musky odor, not at all inviting 
for any one except the very hungry. 

When we had gone thirty or forty miles above Libonta we 
sent eleven of our captives to the west, to the chief called Mako- 
ma, with an explanatory message. This caused some delay ; but 
as we were loaded with presents of food from the Makololo, and 
the wild animals were in enormous herds, we fared sumptuously. 
It was grievous, however, to shoot the lovely creatures, they 



278 GAME.— COMPAKATIVE TENACITY OE LIFE. 

were so tame. With but little skill in stalking, one could easily 
get within fifty or sixty yards of them. There I lay, looking 
at the graceful forms and motions of beautiful pokus,* leches, 
and other antelopes, often till my men, wondering what was the 
matter, came up to see, and frightened them away. If we had 
been starving, I could have slaughtered them with as little hesi- 
tation as I should cut off a patient's leg ; but I felt a doubt, and 
the antelopes got the benefit of it. Have they a guardian spirit 
over them? I have repeatedly observed, when I approached a 
herd lying beyond an ant-hill with a tree on it, and viewed 
them with the greatest caution, they very soon showed symp- 
toms of uneasiness. They did not snuff danger in the wind, for 
I was to leeward of them ; but the almost invariable apprehen- 
sion of danger which arose, while unconscious of the direction in 
which it lay, made me wonder whether each had what the an- 
cient physicians thought we all possessed, an archon, or presiding 
spirit. 

If we could ascertain the most fatal spot in an animal, we 
could dispatch it with the least possible amount of suffering; 
but as that is probably the part to which the greatest amount 
of nervous influence is directed at the moment of receiving the 
shot, if we can not be sure of the heart or brain, we are never 
certain of speedy death. Antelopes, formed for a partially am- 
phibious existence, and other animals of that class, are much 
more tenacious of life than those which are purely terrestrial. 
Most antelopes, when in distress or pursued, make for the wa- 
ter. If hunted, they always do. A leche shot right through the 
body, and no limb-bone broken, is almost sure to get away, while 
a zebra, with a wound of no greater severity, will probably drop 
down dead. I have seen a rhinoceros, while standing apparently 
chewing the cud, drop down dead from a shot in the stomach, 
while others shot through one lung and the stomach go off as 
if little hurt. But if one should crawl up silently to within twen- 
ty yards either of the white or black rhinoceros, throwing up a 
pinch of dust every now and then, to find out that the anxiety 
to keep the body concealed by the bushes has not led him to 

* I propose to name this new species AntUope Vardonii, after the African travel- 
er, Major Vardon. 



GUN MEDICINE. 279 

the windward side, then sit down, rest the elbow on the knees, and 
aim, slanting a little upward, at a dark spot behind the shoulders, 
it falls stone dead. 

To show that a shock on the part of the system to which 
much nervous force is at the time directed will destroy life, it 
may be mentioned that an eland, when hunted, can be dispatched 
by a wound which does little more than injure the muscular 
'system ; its whole nervous force is then imbuing the organs 
of motion ; and a giraffe, when pressed hard by a good horse 
only two or 'three hundred yards, has been known to drop down 
dead, without any wound being inflicted at all. A full gallop 
by an eland or giraffe quite dissipates its power, and the 
hunters, aware of this, always try to press them at once to it, 
knowing that they have but a short space to run before the 
animals are in their power. In doing this, the old sportsmen 
are careful not to go too close to the giraffe's tail, for this animal 
can swing his hind foot round in a way which would leave little 
to choose between a kick with it and a clap from the arm of a 
windmill. 

When the nervous force is entire, terrible wounds may be in- 
flicted without killing; a tsessebe having been shot through the 
neck while quietly feeding, we went to him, and one of the men 
cut his throat deep enough to bleed him largely. He started up 
after this and ran more than a mile, and would have got clear off 
had not a dog brought him to bay under a tree, where we found 
him standing. 

My men, having never had fire-arms in their hands before, 
found it so diflicult to hold the musket steady at the flash of 
fire in the pan, that they naturally expected me to furnish them 
with "gun medicine," without which, it is almost universally 
believed, no one can shoot straight. Great expectations had 
been formed when I arrived among the Makololo on this subject ; 
but, having invariably declined to deceive them, as some for 
their own profit have done, my men now supposed that I would 
at last consent, and thereby relieve myself from the hard work 
of hunting by employing them after due medication. This I 
was most willing to do, if I could have done it honestly ; for, 
having but little of the hunting furore in my composition, I 



280 DIFFICULTY m USING THE GUN. 

always preferred eating tlie game to killing it. Sulphur is tlie 
remedy most admired, and I remember Sechele giving a large 
price for a very small bit. He also gave some elephants' tusks, 
worth £30, for another medicine which was to make him invul- 
nerable to musket balls. As I uniformly recommended that 
these things should be tested by experiment, a calf was anointed 
with the charm and tied to a tree. It proved decisive, and 
Sechele remarked it was "pleasanter to be deceived than un- 
deceived." I offered sulphur for the same purpose, but that was 
declined, even though a person came to the town afterward and 
rubbed his hands with a little before a successful trial of shooting 
at a mark. 

I explained to my men the nature of a gun, and tried to 
teach them, but they would soon have expended all the ammu- 
nition in my possession. I was thus obliged to do all the 
shooting myself ever afterward. Their inability was rather a 
misfortune; for, in consequence of working too soon after having 
been bitten by the lion, the bone of my left arm had not united 
well. Continual hard manual labor, and some falls from ox- 
back, lengthened the ligament by which the ends of the bones 
were united, and a false joint was the consequence. The limb 
has never been painful, as those of my companions on the day 
of the rencounter with the lion have been, but, there being a joint 
too many, I could not steady the rifle, and was always obliged to 
shoot with the piece resting on the left shoulder. I wanted 
steadiness of aim, and it generally happened that the more 
hungry the party became, the more frequently I missed the 
animals. 

We spent a Sunday on our way up to the confluence of the 
Leeba and Leeambye. Rains had fallen here before we came, 
and the woods had put on their gayest hue. Flowers of great 
beauty and curious forms grow every where; they are unlike 
those in the south, and so are the trees. Many of the forest-tree 
leaves are palmated and largely developed; the trunks are 
covered with lichens, and the abundance of ferns which appear 
in the woods shows we are now in a more humid climate than 
any to the south of the Barotse valley. The ground begins to 
swarm with insect life ; and in the cool, pleasant mornings the 



DEPRAVITY— ITS TREATMENT. 281 

welkin rings with the singing of birds, which is not so delightful 
as the notes of birds at home, because I have not been familiar 
with them from infancy. The notes here, however, strike the 
raind by their loudness and variety, as the wellings forth from 
joyous hearts of praise to Him who fills them with overflowing 
gladness. All of us rise early to enjoy the luscious balmy air of 
the morning. We then have worship ; but, amid all the beauty 
and loveliness with which we are surrounded, there is still a 
feeling of want in the soul in viewing one's poor companions, 
and hearing bitter, impure words jarring on the ear in the per- 
fection of the scenes of Nature, and a longing that both their 
hearts and ours might be brought into harmony with the Great 
Father of Spirits. I pointed out, in, as usual, the simplest words 
I could employ, the remedy which God has presented to us, in 
the inexpressibly precious gift of His own Son, on whom the 
Lord "laid the iniquity of us all." The great difficulty in deal- 
ing with these people is to make the subject plain. The minds 
of the auditors can not be understood by one who has not mingled 
much with them. They readily pray for the forgiveness of sins, 
and then sin again ; confess the evil of it, and there the matter 
ends. 

I shall not often advert to their depravity. My practice has 
always been to apply the remedy with all possible earnestness, 
but never allow my own mind to dwell on the dark shades of 
men's characters. I have never been able to draw pictures of 
guilt, as if that could awaken Christian sympathy. The evil is 
there. But all around in this fair creation are scenes of beauty, 
and to turn from these to ponder on deeds of sin can not promote 
a healthy state of the faculties. I attribute much of the bodily 
health I enjoy to following the plan adopted by most physicians, 
who, while engaged in active, laborious efforts to assist the needy, 
at the same time follow the delightful studies of some department 
of natural history. The human misery and sin we endeavor to 
alleviate and cure may be likened to the sickness and impurity 
of some of the back slums of great cities. One contents him- 
self by ministering to the sick and trying to remove the causes, 
without remaining longer in the filth than is necessary for his 
work; another, equally anxious for the public good, stirs up 



282 WILD PEUITS. 

every cesspool, that he may describe its reeking vapors, and, Iby 
long contact with impurities, becomes himself infected, sickens, 
and dies. 

The men went about during the day, and brought back wild 
fruits of several varieties, which I had not hitherto seen. One, 
called mogametsa, is a bean with a little pulp round it, which, 
tastes like sponge-cake; another, named mawa, grows abundantly 
on a low bush. There are many berries and edible bulbs almost 
every where. The mamosho or moshomosho, and milo (a medlar), 
were to be found near our encampment. These are both good, 
if indeed one can be a fair judge who felt quite disposed to pass 
a favorable verdict on every fruit which had the property of being 
eatable at all. Many kinds are better than our crab-apple or 
sloe, and, had they the care and culture these have enjoyed, 
might take high rank among the fruits of the world. AH that 
the Africans have thought of has been present gratification ; 
and now, as I sometimes deposit date-seeds in the soil, and tell 
them I have no hope whatever of seeing the fruit, it seems to 
them as the act of the South Sea Islanders appears to us, when 
they planted in their gardens iron nails received from Captain 
Cook. 

There are many fruits and berries in the forests, the uses of 
which are unknown to my companions. Great numbers of a 
kind of palm I have never met with before were seen growing at 
and below the confluence of the Loeti and Leeambye ; the seed 
probably came down the former river. It is nearly as tall as the 
palmyra. The fruit is larger than of that species ; it is about four 
inches long, and has a soft yellow pulp round the kernel or seed ; 
when ripe, it is fluid and stringy, like the wild mango, and not 
very pleasant to eat. 

Before we came to the junction of the Leeba and Leeambye 
we found the banks twenty feet high, and composed of marly 
sandstone. They are covered with trees, and the left bank has 
the tsetse and elephants. I suspect the fly has some connection 
with this animal, and the Portuguese in the district of Tete must 
think so too, for they call it the Musca da elephant (the elephant 

The water of inundation covers even these lofty banks, but 



PIGEONS.— FISH. 283 

does not stand long upon them ; hence the crop of trees. Where 
it remains for any length of time, trees can not live. On the 
right bank, or that in which the Loeti flows, there is an extensive 
flat country called Manga, which, though covered with grass, is 
destitute in a great measure of trees. 

Flocks of green pigeons rose from the trees as we passed along 
the banks, and the notes of many birds told that we were now 
among strangers of the feathered tribe. The beautiful trogon, 
with bright scarlet breast and black back, uttered a most pe- 
culiar note, similar to that we read of as having once been emit- 
ted by Memnon, and likened to the tuning of a lyre. The boat- 
men answered it by calling "Nama, nama!" — meat, meat — as if 
they thought that a repetition of the note would be a good 
omen for our success in hunting. Many more interesting birds 
were met ; but I could make no collection, as I was proceeding 
on the plan of having as little luggage as possible, so as not to 
excite the cupidity of those through whose country we intended 
to pass. 

Vast shoals of fish come down the Leeambye with the rising 
waters, as we observed they also do in the Zouga. They are 
probably induced to make this migration by the increased rapid- 
ity of the current dislodging them from their old pasture-grounds 
higher up the river. Insects constitute but a small portion of 
the food of many fish. Fine vegetable matter, like slender mosses, 
growing on the bottom, is devoured greedily ; and as the fishes 
are dislodged from the main stream by the force of the current, 
and find abundant pasture on the flooded plains, the whole com- 
munity becomes disturbed and wanders. 

The mosala {Clarias Cajpends and Giants siluris), the mullet 
{Mugil Africanus), and other fishes, spread over the Barotse 
valley in such numbers that when the waters retire all the people 
are employed in cutting them up and drying them in the sun. 
The supply exceeds the demand, and the land in numerous places 
is said to emit a most offensive smell. Wherever you see the 
Zambesi in the centre of the country, it is remarkable for the 
abundance of animal life in and upon its waters, and on the adja- 
cent banks. 

We passed great numbers of hippopotami. They are very nu- 



284 HIPPOPOTAMI. 

merous in the parts of the river where they are never hunted. 
The males appear of a dark color, the females of yellowish brown. 
There is not such a complete separation of the sexes among them 
as among elephants. They spend most of their time in the wa- 
ter, lolling about in a listless, dreamy manner. When they come 
out of the river by night, they crop off the soft succulent grasses 
very neatly. When they blow, they puff up the water about 
three feet high. 



MESSAGE TO MASIKO. 285 



CHAPTER XV. 

Message to Masiko, the Barotse Chief, regarding the Captives. — ^Navigation of the 
Leearabye. — Capabilities of this District. — The Leeba. — Flowers and Bees. — 
Buffalo-hunt. — Field for a Botanist. — Young Alligators ; their savage Nature. — 
Suspicion of the Balonda. — Sekelenke's Present. — A Man and his two Wives. — 
Hunters. — Message from Manenko, a female Chief. — Mambari Traders. — A 
Dream. — Sheakondo and his People. — Teeth-filing. — Desire for Butter. — Inter- 
view with Nyamoana, another female Chief. — Court Etiquette. — Hair versus 
\Yool. — Increase of Superstition. — Arrival of Manenko ; her Appearance and 
Husband. — Mode of Salutation. — Anklets. — Embassy, with a Present from Ma- 
siko. — Roast Beef. — Manioc. — Magic Lantern. — Manenko an accomplished 
Scold : compels us to wait. — Unsuccessful Zebra-hunt. 

On the 27tli of December we were at the confluence of the 
Leeba and Leeambye (lat. 14° 10^ 52'^ S., long. 23° 35' 40'' E.). 
Masiko, the Barotse chief, for whom we had some captives, lived 
nearly due east of this point. They were two little boys, a little 
girl, a young man, and two middle-aged women. One of these 
was a member of a Babimpe tribe, who knock out both upper 
and lower front teeth as a distinction. As we had been informed 
by the captives on the previous Sunday that Masiko was in the 
habit of seizing all orphans, and those who have no powerful 
friend in the tribe whose protection they can claim, and selling 
them for clothing to the Mambari, we thought the objection of 
the • women to go first to his town before seeing their friends 
quite reasonable, and resolved to send a party of our own people 
to see them safely among their relatives. I told the captive 
young man to inform Masiko that he was very unlike his father 
Santuru, who had refused to sell his people to Mambari. He 
will probably be afraid to deliver such a message himself, but it 
is meant for his people, and they will circulate it pretty widely, 
and Masiko may yet feel a little pressure from without. We 
sent Mosantu, a Batoka man, and his companions, with the cap- 
tives. The Barotse whom we had were unwilling to go to Ma- 
siko, since they owe him allegiance as the son of Santuru, and 
while they continue with the Makololo are considered rebels. 



286 NAVIGATION OF THE LEEAMBYE. 

The message by Mosantu was, that "I was soriy to find that San- 
turu had not borne a wiser son. Santuru loved to govern men, 
but Masiko wanted to govern wild beasts only, as he sold his peo- 
ple to the Mambari ;" adding an explanation of the return of the 
captives, and an injunction to him to live in peace, and prevent 
his people kidnapping the children and canoes of the Makololo, 
as a continuance in these deeds would lead to war, which I wish- 
ed to prevent. He was also instructed to say, if Masiko wanted 
fuller explanation of my views, he must send a sensible man to 
talk with me at the first town of the Balonda, to which I wa« 
about to proceed. 

We ferried Mosantu over to the left bank of the Leeba. The 
journey required five days, but it could not have been at a quick- 
er rate than ten or twelve miles per day ; the children were be- 
tween seven and eight years of age, and unable to walk fast in a 
hot sun. 

.Leaving Mosantu to pursue his course, we shall take but one 
glance down the river, which we are now about to leave, for it 
comes at this point from the eastward, and our course is to be 
directed to the northwest, as we mean to go to Loanda in 
Angola. From the confluence, where we now are, down to Mo- 
sioatunya, there are many long reaches, where a vessel equal 
to the Thames steamers plying between the bridges could run 
as freely as they do on the Thames. It is often, even here, as 
broad as that river at London Bridge, but, without accurate 
measurement of the depth, one could not say which contained 
most water. There are, however, many and serious obstacles 
to a continued navigation for hundreds of miles at a stretch. 
About ten miles below the confluence of the Loeti, for instance, 
there are many large sand-banks in the stream ; then you have 
a hundred miles to the River Simah, where a Thames steamer 
could ply at all times of the year ; but, again, the space between 
Simah and Katima-molelo has five or six rapids with cataracts, 
one of which, Gonye, could not be passed at any time without 
portage. Between these rapids there are reaches of still, deep 
water, of several miles in length. Beyond Katima-molelo to the 
confluence of the Chobe you have nearly a hundred miles again, 
of a river capable of being navigated in the same way as in the 
Barotse valley. 



THE LEEBA. 287 

Now I do not say that tins part of the river presents a very- 
inviting prospect for extemporaneous European enterprise ; but 
when we have a pathway which requires only the formation of 
portages to make it equal to our canals for hundreds of miles, 
where the philosophers supposed there was naught but an ex- 
tensive sandy desert, we must confess that the future partakes at 
least of the elements of hope. My deliberate conviction was 
and is that the part of the country indicated is as capable of 
supporting millions of inhabitants as it is of its thousands. The 
grass of the Barotse valley, for instance, is such a densely- 
matted mass that, when " laid," the stalks bear each other up, so 
that one feels as if walking on the sheaves of a hay-stack, and 
the leches nestle under it to bring forth their young. The soil 
which produces this, if placed under the plow, instead of being 
mere pasturage, would yield grain sufficient to feed vast multi- 
tudes. 

We now began to ascend the Leeba. The water is black in 
color as compared with the main stream, which here assumes 
the name of Kabompo. The Leeba flows placidly, and, unlike 
the parent river, receives numbers of little rivulets from both 
sides. It winds slowly through the most charming meadows, 
each of which has either a soft, sedgy centre, large pond, or trick- 
ling rill down the middle. The trees are now covered with a pro- 
fusion of the freshest foliage, and seem planted in groups of such 
pleasant, graceful outline that art could give no additional charm. 
The grass, which had been burned oif and was growing again aft- 
er the rains, was short and green, and all the scenery so like that 
of a carefully- tended gentleman's park, that one is scarcely re- 
minded that the surrounding region is in the hands of simple 
nature alone. I suspect that the level meadows are inundated 
annually, for the spots on which the trees stand are elevated 
three or four feet above them, and these elevations, being of dif- 
ferent shapes, give the strange variety of outline of the park-like 
woods. Numbers of a fresh-water shell are scattered all over 
these valleys. The elevations, as I have observed elsewhere, are 
of a soft, sandy soil, and the meadows of black, rich alluvial loam. 
There are many beautiful flowers, and many bees to sip their 
nectar. We found plenty of honey in the woods, and saw the 



288 BUFFALO HUNT. 

Stages on which the Balonda dry their meat, when they come down 
to hunt and gather the produce of the wild hives. In one part 
we came upon groups of loftj trees as straight as masts, with fes- 
toons of orchilla-weed hanging from the branches. This, which 
is used as a dye-stuff, is found nowhere in the dry country to the 
south. It prefers the humid climate near the west coast. 

A large buffalo was wounded, and ran into the thickest part 
of the forest, bleeding profusely. The young men went on his 
trail ; and, though the vegetation was so dense that no one could 
have run more than a few yards, most of them went along quite 
carelessly, picking and eating a fruit of the melon family called 
Mponko. When the animal heard them approach he always 
fled, shifting his stand and doubling on his course in the most 
cuiining manner. In other cases I have known them turn back 
to a point a few yards from their own trail, and then lie down 
in a hollow waiting for the hunter to come up. Though a heavy, 
lumbering-looking animal, his charge is then rapid and terrific. 
More accidents happen by the buffalo and the black rhinoceros 
than by the lion. Though all are aware of the mischievous 
nature of the buffalo when wounded, our young men went after 
him quite carelessly. They never lose their presence of mind, 
but, as a buffalo charges back in a forest, dart dexterously out 
of his way behind a tree, and, wheeling round, stab him as he 
passes. 

A tree in flower brought the pleasant fragrance of hawthorn 
hedges back to memory ; its leaves, flowers, perfumes, and fruit 
resembled those of the hawthorn, only tlie flowers were as large 
as dog-roses, and the "haws" like boys' marbles. Here the 
flowers smell sweetly, while few in the south emit any scent at 
all, or only a nauseous odor. A botanist would find a rich 
harvest on the banks of the Leeba. This would be his best 
season, for the flowers all run rapidly to seed, and then insects 
of every shape spring into existence to devour them. The 
climbing plants display great vigor of gi'owth, being not only 
thick in the trunk, but also at the very point, in the manner of 
quickly-growing asparagus. The maroro or malolo now appears, 
and is abundant in many parts between this and Angola. It 
is a small bush with a yellow fruit, and in its appearance a dwarf 



• YOUNG ALLIGATOES. 289 

'•'■ anona.'''' The taste is sweet, and the fruit is wholesome: it is 
full of seeds, like the custard-ajDple. 

On the 28th we slept at a spot on the right bank from which 
had just emerged two broods of alligators. We had seen many 
young ones as we came up, so this seems to be their time of 
coming forth from the nests, for we saw them sunning them- 
selves on sand-banks in company with the old ones. We made 
our lire in one of the deserted nests, which were strewed all over 
with the broken shells. At the Zouga we saw sixty eggs taken 
out of one such nest alone. They are about the size of those of 
a goose, only the eggs of the alligator are of the same diameter 
at both ends, and the white shell is partially elastic, from having 
a strong internal membrane and but little lime in its composi- 
tion. The distance from the water was about ten feet, and there 
were evidences of the same place having been used for a similar 
purpose in former years. A broad path led up from the water 
to the nest, and the dam, it was said by my companions, after 
depositing the eggs, covers them up, and returns afterward to 
assist the young out of the place of confinement and out of the 
^g^. She leads them to the edge of the water, and then leaves 
them to catch small fish for themselves. Assistance to come 
forth seems necessary, for here, besides the tough membrane of 
the shell, they had four inches of earth upon them ; but they do 
not require immediate aid for food, because they all retain a 
portion of yolk, equal to that of a hen's egg, in a membrane in 
the abdomen, as a stock of nutriment, while only beginning inde- 
pendent existence by catching fish. Fish is the principal food 
of both small and large, and they are much assisted in catching 
them by their broad, scaly tails. Sometimes an alligator, view- 
ing a man in the water from the opposite bank, rushes across the 
stream with wonderful agility, as is seen by the high ripple he 
makes on the surface caused by his rapid motion at the bottom ; 
but in general they act by stealth, sinking underneath as soon as 
they see man. They seldom leave the water to catch prey, but 
often come out by day to enjoy the pleasure of basking in the 
sun. In walking along the bank of the Zouga once, a small one, 
about three feet long, made a dash at my feet, and caused me to 
rush quickly in another direction ; but this is unusual, for I nev- 
er heard of a similar case. A wounded leche, chased into any of 

T 



290 ALLIGATOES. 

the lagoons in the Barotse valley, or a man or dog going in for the 
purpose of bringing out a dead one, is almost" sure to be seized, 
though the alligators may not appear on the surface. When em- 
ployed in looking for food they keep out of sight ; they fish chief- 
ly by night. When eating, they make a loud, champing noise, 
which when once heard is never forgotten. 

The young, which had come out of the nests where we spent 
the night, did not appear wary ; they were about ten inches long, 
with yellow eyes, and pupil merely a perpendicular slit. They 
were all marked with transverse slips of pale green and brown, 
half an inch broad. When speared, they bit the weapon savage- 
ly, though their teeth were but partially developed, uttering at 
the same time a sharp bark like that of a whelp when it first be- 
gins to use its voice. I could not ascertain whether the dam de- 
vours them, as reported, or whether the ichneumon has the same 
reputation here as in Egypt. Probably the Barotse and Bayeiye 
would not look upon it as a benefactor ; they prefer to eat the 
eggs themselves, and be their own ichneumons. The white of the 
egg does not coagulate, but the yolk does, and this is the only part 
eaten. 

As the population increases, the alligators will decrease, for 
their nests will be oftener found; the principal check on their 
inordinate multiplication seems to be man. They are more sav- 
age and commit more mischief in the Leeambye than in any oth- 
er river. After dancing long in the moonlight nights, young men 
run down to the water to wash off the dust and cool themselves 
before going to bed, and are thus often carried away. One won- 
ders they are not afraid ; but the fact is, they have as little sense 
of danger impending over them as the hare has when not actually 
pursued by the hound, and in many rencounters, in which they es- 
cape, they had not time to be afraid, and only laugh at the cir- 
cumstance afterward : there is a want of calm reflection. In 
many cases, not referred to in this book, I feel more horror now 
in thinking on dangers I have run than I did at the time of their 
occurrence. 

When we reached the part of the river opposite to the village 
of Manenko, the first female chief whom we encountered, two of 
the people called Balunda, or Balonda, came to us in their little 
canoe. From them we learned that Kolimbota, one of our party, 



SEKELENKE'S PRESENT. 291 

who had been in the hahit of visiting these parts, was believed 
by the Balonda to have acted as a guide to the marauders under 
Lerimo, whose captives we were now returning. They very nat- 
urally suspected this, from the facility with which their villages 
had been found, and, as they had since removed them to some 
distance from the river, they were unwilling to lead us to their 
places of concealment. We were in bad repute, but, having a 
captive boy and girl to show in evidence of Sekeletu and our- 
selves not being partakers in the guilt of inferior men, I could 
freely express my desire that all should live in peace. They 
evidently felt that I ought to have taught tlie Makololo first, 
before coming to them, for they remarked that what I advanced 
was very good, but guilt lay at the door of the Makololo for 
disturbing the previously existing peace. They then went away 
to report us to Manenko. 

When the strangers visited us again in the evening, they were 
accompanied by a number of the people of an Ambonda chief 
named Sekelenke, The Ambonda live far to the N.W. ; their 
language, the Bonda, is the^ common dialect in Angola. Seke- 
lenke had fled, and was now living with his village as a vassal 
of Masiko. As notices of such men will perhaps convey the 
.best idea ,of the state of the inhabitants to the reader, I shall 
hereafter allude to the conduct of Sekelenke, whom I at present 
only introduce. Sekelenke had gone with his villagers to hunt 
elephants on the right bank of the Leeba, and was now on his 
way back to Masiko. He sent me a dish of boiled zebra's flesh, 
and a request that I should lend him a canoe to ferry his wives 
and family across the river to the bank on which we were en- 
camped. Many of Sekelenke's people came to salute the first 
white man they ever had an opportunity of seeing ; but Sekelenke 
himself did not come near. We heard he was offended with some 
of his people for letting me know he was among the company. 
He said that I should be displeased with him for not coming and 
making some present. This was the only instance in which I 
was shunned in this quarter. 

As it would have been impolitic to pass Manenko, or any chief, 
without at least showing so much respect as to call and explain 
the objects of our passing through the country, we waited two 
entire days for the return of the messengers to Manenko ; and as 



292 HUNTERS. 

I could not hurry matters, I went into the adjacent country to 
search for meat for the camp. 

The country is furnished largely with forest, having occa- 
sionally open lawns covered with grass, not in tufts as in the 
south, Ibut so closely planted that one can not see the soil. We 
came upon a man and his two wives and children, turning coarse 
rushes and the stalks of tsitla, growing in a hrackish marsh, in 
order to extract a kind of salt from the ashes. They make a 
funnel of branches of trees, and line it with grass rope, twisted 
round until it is, as it were, a heehive-roof inverted. The ashes 
are put into water, in a calabash, and then it is allowed to perco- 
late through the small hole in the bottom and through the grass. 
When this water is evaporated in the sun, it yields sufficient 
salt to form a relish with food. The women and children fled 
with precipitation, but we sat down at a distance, and allowed 
the man time to gain courage enough to speak. He, however, 
trembled excessively at the apparition before him ; but when 
we explained that our object was to hunt game, and not men, 
he became calm, and called back his wives. We soon afterward 
came to another party on the same errand with ourselves. The 
man had a bow about six feet long, and iron-headed arrows 
about thirty inches in length ; he had also wooden arrows neatly 
barbed, to shoot in cases where he might not be quite certain 
of recovering them again. We soon afterward got a zebra, 
and gave our hunting acquaintances such a liberal share that 
we soon became friends. All whom we saw that day then came 
with us to the encampment to beg a little meat ; and as they 
have so little salt, I have no doubt they felt grateful for what we 
gave. 

Sekelenke and his people, twenty-four in number, defiled past 
our camp carrying large bundles of dried elephants' meat. Most 
of them came to say good-by, and Sekelenke himself sent to say 
that he had gone to visit a wife living in the village of Manenko. 
It was a mere African manoeuvre to gain information, and not 
commit himself to either one line of action or another with re- 
spect to our visit. As he was probably in the party before us, I 
replied that it was all right, and when my people came up from 
Masiko I would go to my wife too. Another zebra came to our 
camp, and, as we had friends near, it was shot. It was the Equus 



MAMBARI TRADERS. '293 

montamis, tliougli the country is perfectly flat, and was finely- 
marked down to the feet, as all the zebras are in these parts. 

To our first message, offering a visit of explanation to Ma- 
nenko, we got an answer, with a basket of manioc roots, that 
we must remain where we were till she should visit us. Having 
waited two days already for her, other messengers arrived with 
orders for me to come to her. After four days of rains and 
negotiation, I declined going at all, and proceeded up the river 
to the small stream Makondo (lat. 13° 23'' 12'^ S.), which enters 
the Leeba from the east, and is between twenty and thirty yards 
broad. 

January Ist, 1854. We had heavy rains almost every day ; in- 
deed, the rainy season had fairly set in. Baskets of the purple fruit 
called mawa were frequently brought to us by the villagers ; not 
for sale, but from a belief that their chiefs would be pleased to 
hear that they had treated us well ; we gave them pieces of meat 
in return. 

When crossing at the confluence of the Leeba and Makondo, 
one of my men picked up a bit of a steel watch-chain of English 
manufacture, and we were informed that this was the spot where 
the Mambari cross in coming to Masiko. Their visits explain 
why Sekelenke kept his tusks so carefully. These Mambari are 
very enterprising merchants: when they mean to trade with a 
town, they deliberately begin the aflair by building huts, as if 
they knew that little business could be transacted without a lib- 
eral allowance of time for palaver. They bring Manchester goods 
into the heart of Africa ; these cotton prints look so wonderful 
that the Makololo could not believe them to be the work of mor- 
tal hands. On questioning the Mambari they were answered that 
English manufactures came out of the sea, and beads were gath- 
ered on its shore. To Africans our cotton mills are fairy dreams. 
"How can the irons spin, weave, and print so beautifully?" Our 
country is like what Taprobane was to our ancestors — a strange 
realm of light, whence came the diamond, muslin, and peacocks ; 
an attempt at explanation of our manufactures usually elicits the 
expression, " Truly ye are gods !" 

When about to leave the Makondo, one of my men had dreamed 
that Mosantu was shut up a prisoner in a stockade: this dream 
depressed the spirits of the whole party, and when I came out of 



294 SHEAKONDO AISTD HIS PEOPLE. 

my little tent in the morning, they were sitting the pictures of 
abject sorrow. I asked if we were to be guided by dreams, or 
by the authority I derived from Sekeletu, and ordered them to 
load the boats at once ; they seemed ashamed to confess their 
fears ; the Makololo picked up courage and upbraided the others 
for having such superstitious views, and said this was always 
their way ; if even a certain bird called to them, they would turn 
back from an enterprise, saying it was unlucky. They entered 
the canoes at last, and were the better of a little scolding for be- 
ing inclined to put dreams before authority. It rained all the 
morning, but about eleven we reached the village of Sheakondo, on 
a small stream named Lonkohye. We sent a message to the 
head man, who soon appeared with two wives, bearing handsome 
presents of manioc : Sheakondo could speak the language of the 
Barotse well, and seemed awestruck when told some of the 
" words of God." He manifested no fear, always spoke frankly, 
and when he made an asseveration, did so by simply pointing up 
to the sky above him. The Balonda cultivate the manioc or cas^ 
sava extensively ; also dura, ground-nuts, beans, maize, sweet po- 

\ tatoes, and yams, here called " lekoto," but as yet we see only the 
\ outlying villages. 
A The people who came with Sheakondo to our bivouac had 

/itheir teeth filed to a point by way of beautifying them, though 
Ithose which were left untouched were always the whitest ; they 
'^re generally tattooed in various parts, but chiefly on the abdo- 
men : the skin is raised in small elevated cicatrices, each nearly 
half an inch long and a quarter of an inch in diameter, so that a 

^ y^uraber of them may constitute a star, or other device. The dark 
color of the skin prevents any coloring matter being deposited in 
these figures, but they love much to have the whole surface of their 
bodies anointed with a comfortable varnish of oil. In their unas- 
sisted state they depend on supplies of oil from the Palma Christi, 
or castor-oil-plant, or from various other oliferous seeds, but they 
are all excessively fond of clarified butter or ox fat. Sheakondo's 
old wife presented some manioc roots, and then politely requested 
to be anointed with butter : as I had been bountifully supplied by 
the Makololo, I gave her as much as would suffice, and as they 
have little clothing, I can readily believe that she felt her comfort 
greatly enhanced thereby. 



INTERVIEW WITH EEMALE CHIEF. 295 

The favorite wife, who was also present, was equally anxious 
for butter. She had a profusion of iron rings on her ankles, to 
which were attached little pieces of sheet iron, to enable her to 
make a tinkling as she walked in her mincing African style ; the 
same thing is thought pretty by our own dragoons in walking 
jauntingly. 

We had so much rain and cloud that I could not get a single 
observation for either longitude or latitude for a fortnight. Yet 
the Leeba does not show any great rise, nor is the water in the 
least discolored. It is slightly black, from the number of mossy 
rills which fall into it. It has remarkably few birds and fish, 
while the Leeambye swarms with both. It is. noticeable that 
alligators here possess more of the fear of man than in the 
Leeambye. The Balonda have taught them, by their poisoned 
arrows, to keep out of sight. We did not see one basking in the 
sun. The Balonda set so many little traps for birds that few 
appear. I observed, however, many (to me) new small birds of 
song on its banks. More rain has been falling in the east than 
here, for the Leeambye was rising fast and working against the 
sandy banks so vigorously that a slight yellow tinge was percep- 
tible in it. 

One of our men was bitten by a non-venomous serpent, and 
of course felt no harm. The Barotse concluded that this was 
owing to many of them being present and seeing it, as if the 
sight of human eyes could dissolve the poison and act as a 
charm. 

On the 6th of January we reached the village of another fe- 
male chief, named Nyamoana, who is said to be the mother of 
Manenko, and sister of Shinte or Kabompo, the greatest Balonda 
chief in this part of the country. Her people had but recently 
come to the present locality, and had erected only twenty huts. 
Her husband, Samoana, was clothed in a kilt of green and red 
baize, and was armed with a spear and a broadsword of antique 
form, about eighteen inches long and three broad. The chief 
and her husband were sitting on skins placed in the middle of a 
circle thirty paces in diameter, a little raised above the ordinary 
level of the ground, and having a trench round it. Outside the 
trench sat about a hundred persons of all ages and both sexes. 
The men were well armed with bows, arrows, spears, and broad- 



296 COURT ETIQUETTE. 

swords. Beside the husband sat a rather aged woman, having a 
"bad outward squint in the left eye. We put down our arms 
aTbout forty yards off, and I walked up to the centre of the circu- 
lar Tbench, and saluted him in the usual way by clapping the 
hands together in their fashion. He pointed to his wife, as much 
as to say, the honor belongs to her. I saluted her in the same 
way, and a mat having been brought, I squatted down in front of 
them. 

The talker was then called, and I was asked who was my 
spokesman. Having pointed to Kolimbota, who knew their 
dialect best, the palaver began in due form. I explained the 
real objects I had in view, without any attempt to mystify or 
appear in any other character than my own, for I have always 
been satisfied that, even though there were no other consid- 
erations, the truthful way of dealing with the uncivilized is 
unquestionably the best. Kolimbota repeated to Nyamoana's 
talker what I had said to him. He delivered it all verbatim to 
her husband, who repeated it again to her. It was thus all 
rehearsed four times over, in a tone loud enough to be heard by 
the whole party of auditors. The response came back by the 
same roundabout route, beginning at the lady to her hus- 
band, etc. 

After explanations and re-explanations, I perceived that our 
new friends were mixing up my message of peace and friendship 
with Makololo affairs, and stated that it was not delivered on the 
authority of any one less than that of their Creator, and that if 
the Makololo did again break His laws and attack the Balonda, 
the guilt would rest with the Makololo and not with me. The 
palaver then came to a close. 

By way of gaining their confidence, I showed them my hair, 
which is considered a curiosity in all this region. They said, 
"Is that hair? It is the mane of a lion, and not hair at all." 
Some thought that I had made a wig of lion's mane, as they 
sometimes do with fibres of the "ife," and dye it black, and 
twist it so as to resemble a mass of their own wool. I could 
not return the joke by telling them that theirs was not hair, but 
the wool of sheep, for they have none of these in the country ; 
and even though they had, as Herodotus remarked, " the African 
sheep are clothed with hair, and men's heads with wool." So I 



INCREASE or SUPERSTITION. 297 

had to be content with asserting that mine was the real original 
hair, such as theirs would have heen had it not been scorched 
and frizzled hy the sun. In proof of what the sun could do, I 
compared my own bronzed face and hands, then about the same 
in complexion as the lighter-colored Makololo, with the white 
skin of my chest. They readily believed that, as they go nearly 
naked and fully exposed to that influence, we might be of com- 
mon origin after all. Here, as every where, when heat and moist- 
ure are combined, the people are very dark, but not quite black. 
There is always a shade of brown in the most deeply colored. 
I showed my watch and pocket compass, which are considered 
great curiosities ; but, though the lady was called on by her 
husband to look, she would not be persuaded to approach near 
enough. 

These people are more superstitious than any we had yet 
encountered ; though still only building their village, they had 
found time to erect two little sheds at the chief dwelling in it, in 
which were placed two pots having charms in them. When 
asked what medicine they contained, they replied, "Medicine 
for the Barimo ;" but when I rose and looked into them, they 
said they were medicine for the game. Here we saw the first 
evidence of the existence of idolatry in the remains of an old 
idol at a deserted village. It was simply a human head carved 
on a block of wood. Certain charms mixed with red ochre and 
white pipe-clay are dotted over them when they are in use ; and 
a crooked stick is used in the same way for an idol when they 
have no professional carver. 

As the Leeba seemed still to come from the direction in which 
we wished to go, I was desirous of proceeding farther up with 
the canoes; but Nyamoana was anxious that we should allow 
her people to conduct us to her brother Shinte; and when I 
explained the advantage of water-carriage, she represented that 
her brother did not live near the river, and, moreover, there was 
a cataract in front, over which it would be difficult to convey the 
canoes. She was afraid, too, that the Balobale, whose country 
lies to the west of the river, not knowing the objects for which 
we had come, would kill us. To my reply that I had been so 
often threatened with death if I visited a new tribe that I was 
now more afraid of killing any one than of being killed, she 



298 MODE or SALUTATION. 

rejoined that the Balobale would not kill me, but the Makololo 
would all be sacrificed as their enemies. This produced consid- 
erable effect on my companions, and inclined them to the plan of 
Njamoana, of going to the town of her brother rather than as- 
cending the Leeba. The arrival of Manenko herself on the scene 
threw so much weight into the scale on their side that I was 
forced to yield the point. 

Manenko was a tall, strapping woman about twenty, distin- 
guished by a profusion of ornaments and medicines hung round 
her person ; the latter are supposed to act as charms. Her body 
was smeared all over with a mixture of fat and red ochre, as a 
protection against the weather ; a necessary precaution, for, like 
most of the Balonda ladies, she was otherwise in a state of 
frightful nudity. This was not from want of clothing, for, being 
a chief, she might have been as well clad as any of her subjects, 
but from her peculiar ideas of elegance in dress. When she 
arrived with her husband, Sambanza, they listened for some time 
to the statements I was making to the people of Nyamoana, 
after which the husband, acting as spokesman, commenced an 
oration, stating the reasons for their coming, and, during every 
two or three seconds of the delivery, he picked up a little sand, 
and rubbed it on the upper part of his arms and chest. This is 
a common mode of salutation in Londa; and when they wish 
to be excessively polite, they bring a quantity of ashes or pipe- 
clay in a piece of skin, and, taking up handfuls, rub it on the 
chest and upper front part of each arm ; others, in saluting, drum 
their ribs with their elbows ; while others still touch the ground 
with one cheek after the other, and clap their hands. The chiefs 
go through the manoeuvre of rubbing the sand on the arms, but 
only make a feint at picking up some. When Sambanza had 
finished his oration, he rose up, and showed his ankles orna- 
mented with a bundle of copper rings ; had they been very 
heavy, they would have made him adopt a straggling walk. 
Some chiefs have really so many as to be forced, by the weight 
and size, to keep one foot apart from the other, the weight 
being a serious inconvenience in walking. The gentlemen like 
Sambanza, who wish to imitate their betters, do so in their 
walk ; so you see men, with only a few ounces of ornament on 
their legs, strutting along as if they had double the number of 



EMBASSY AND PRESENT FROM MASIKO. 299 

pounds. When I smiled at Sambanza's walk, the people remark- 
ed, " That is the way in which they show off their lordship in 
these parts." 

Manenko was quite decided in the adoption of the policy of 
friendship with the Makololo which we recommended ; and, "by 
way of cementing the bond, she and her counselors proposed that 
Kolimbota should take a wife among them. By this expedient 
she hoped to secure his friendship, and also accurate information 
as to the future intentions of the Makololo. She thought that he 
would visit the Balonda more frequently afterward, having the 
good excuse of going to see his wife ; and the Makololo would 
never, of course, kill the villagers among whom so near a relative 
of one of their own children dwells. Kolimbota, I found, thought 
favorably of the proposition, and it afterward led to his desertion 
from us. 

On the evening of the day in which Manenko arrived, we were 
delighted by the appearance of Mosantu and an imposing em- 
bassy from Masiko. It consisted of all his under-chiefs, and they 
brought a fine elephant's tusk, two calabashes of honey, and a 
large piece of blue baize, as a present. The last was intended 
perhaps to show me that he was a truly great chief, who had 
such stores of white men's goods at hand that he could afford 
to give presents of them ; it might also be intended for Mosan- 
tu, for chiefs usually remember the servants ; I gave it to him. 
Masiko expressed delight, by his principal men, at the return of 
the captives, and at the proposal of peace and alliance with the 
Makololo. He stated that he never sold any of his own people 
to the Mambari, but only captives whom his people kidnapped 
from small neighboring tribes. When the question was put 
whether his people had been in the habit of molesting the Mako- 
lolo by kidnapping their servants and stealing canoes, it was 
admitted that two of his men, when hunting, had gone to the 
Makololo gardens, to see if any of their relatives were there. 
As the great object in all native disputes is to get both parties 
to turn over a new leaf, I explained the desirableness of for- 
getting past feuds, accepting the present Makololo professions 
as genuine, and avoiding in future to give them any cause for 
marauding. I presented Masiko with an ox, furnished by Seke- 
letu as provision for ourselves. All these people are excessively 



300 ■ MANENKO A SCOLD. 

fond of beef and l)utter, from having been accustomed to them 
in their youth, before the Makololo deprived them of cattle. 
Thej have abundance of game, but I am quite of their opinion 
that, after all, there is naught in the world equal to roast beef, 
and that in their love for it the English show both good taste 
and sound sense. The ox was intended for Masiko, but his men 
were very anxious to get my sanction for slaughtering it on the 
spot. I replied that when it went out of my hands I had no 
more to do with it. They, however, wished the responsibility of 
slaughtering it to rest with me ; if I had said they might kill it, 
not many ounces would have remained in the morning. I would 
have given permission, but had nothing else to offer in return for 
Masiko's generosity. 

We were now without any provisions except a small dole of 
manioc roots each evening from Nyamoana, which, when eaten 
raw, produce poisonous effects. A small loaf, made from nearly 
the last morsel of maize-meal from Libonta, was my stock, and 
our friends from Masiko were still more destitute ; yet we all 
rejoiced so much at their arrival that we resolved to spend a 
day with them. The Barotse of our party, meeting with relatives 
and friends among the Barotse of Masiko, had many old tales to 
tell ; and, after pleasant hungry converse by day, we regaled 
our friends with the magic lantern by night, and, in order to 
make the thing of use to all, we removed our camp up to the 
village of Nyamoana. This is a good means of arresting the 
attention, and conveying important facts to the minds of these 
people. 

When erecting our sheds at the village, Manenko fell upon 
our friends from Masiko in a way that left no doubt on our 
minds but that she is a most accomplished scold. Masiko had, 
on a former occasion, sent to Samoana for a cloth, a common 
way of keeping up intercourse, and, after receiving it, sent it 
back, because it had the appearance of having had " witchcraft 
medicine" on it ; this was a grave offense, and now Manenko 
had a good excuse for venting her spleen, the embassadors 
having called at her village, and slept in one of the huts without 
leave. If her family was to be suspected of dealing in evil 
charms, why were Masiko's people not to be thought guilty of 
leaving the same in her hut? She advanced and receded in 



DETAINED BY MANENKO. 301 

true oratorical style, belaboring her own servants as well for 
allowing the offense, and, as usual in more civilized feminine 
lectures, she leaned over the objects of her ire, and screamed 
forth all their faults and failings ever since they were born, and 
her despair of ever seeing them become better, until they were 
all "killed by alligators." Masiko's people followed the plan of 
receiving this torrent of abuse in silence, and, as neither we nor 
they had any thing to eat, we parted next morning. In reference 
to Masiko selling slaves to the Mambari, they promised to explain 
the relationship which exists between even the most abject of his 
people and our common Father; and that no more kidnapping 
ought to be allowed, as he ought to give that peace and security 
to the smaller tribes on his eastern borders which he so much 
desired to obtain himself from the Makololo. We promised to 
return through his town when we came back from the sea-coast. 

Manenko gave us some manioc roots in the morning, and had 
determined to carry our baggage to her uncle's, Kabompo or 
Shinte. We had heard a sample of what she could do with her 
tongufi ; and as neither my men nor myself had much inclination 
to encounter a scolding from this black Mrs. Caudle, we made 
ready the packages ; but she came and said the men whom she 
had ordered for the service had not yet come ; they would arrive 
to-morrow. Being on low and disagreeable diet, I felt annoyed 
at this further delay, and ordered the packages to be put into the 
canoes to proceed up the river without her servants ; but Manenko 
was not to be circumvented in this way ; she came forward with 
her people, and said her uncle would be angry if she did not carry 
forward the tusks and goods of Sekeletu, seized the luggage, and 
declared that she would carry it in spite of me. My men suc- 
cumbed sooner to this petticoat government than I felt inclined 
to do, and left me no power ; and, being unwilling to encounter 
her tongue, I was moving off to the canoes, when she gave me a 
kind explanation, and, with her hand on my shoulder, put on a 
motherly look, saying, "Now, my little man, just do as the rest 
have done." My feelings of annoyance of course vanished, and I 
went out to try and get some meat. 

The only game to be found in these parts are the zehra, the 
hualata or tahetsi {Aigoceros equina)^ kama {Bubahis caama), 
buffaloes, and the small antelope hakitenwe {Philantomba). 



302 UNSUCCESSFUL ZEBKA-HUNT. 

The animals can "be seen here only by following on their trail 
for many miles. Urged on by hunger, we followed that of some 
zebras during the greater part of the day: when within fifty 
yards of them, in a dense thicket, I made sure of one, but, to my 
infinite disgust, the gun missed fire, and off they bounded. The 
climate is so very damp, from daily heavy rains, that every thing 
becomes loaded with moisture, and the powder in the gun-nipples 
can not be kept dry. It is curious to mark the intelligence of the 
game ; in districts where they are much annoyed by fire-arms, they 
keep out on the most open spots of country they can find, in order 
to have a widely-extended range of vision, and a man armed is 
carefully shunned. From the frequency with which I have been 
allowed to approach nearer without than with a gun, I believe they 
know the difference between safety and danger in the two cases. 
But here, where they are killed by the arrows of the Balonda, they 
select for safety the densest forest, where the arrow can not be 
easily shot. The variation in the selection of standing-spots 
during the day may, however, be owing partly to the greater heat 
of the sun, for here it is particularly sharp and penetrating. ' How- 
ever accounted for, the wild animals here do select the forests by 
day, while those farther south generally shun these covers, and, 
on several occasions, I have observed there was no sunshine to 
cause them to seek for shade. 



CHAEMS. 303 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Nyamoana's Present. — Charms. — Manenko's pedestrian Powers. — ^An Idol. — Ba- 
londa Arms. — Rain. — Hunger. — Palisades. — Dense Forests. — Artificial Bee- 
hives. — Mushrooms. — Villagers lend the Roofs of their Houses. — Divination and 
Idols. — Manenko's Whims. — A night Alarm. — Shinte's Messengers and Present. 
— The proper Way to approach a Village. — A Merman. — Enter Shinte's Town : 
its Appearance. — Meet two half-caste Slave-traders. — The Makololo scorn them. 
— The Balonda real Negroes. — Grand Reception from Shinte. — His Kotla. — 
Ceremony of Introduction. — The Orators. — Women. — Musicians and Musical 
Instruments. — A disagreeable Request. — Private Interviews with Shinte. — Give 
him an Ox. — Fertility of Soil. — Manenko's new Hut. — Conversation with Shinte. 
— Kolimbota's Proposal. — Balonda's Punctiliousness. — Selling Children. — Kid- 
napping. — Shinte's Offer of a Slave. — Magic Lantern. — Alarm of Women. — De- 
lay. — Sambanza returns intoxicated. — The last and greatest Proof of Shinte's 
Friendship. 

lltk of January^ 1854. On starting this morning, Samoana 
(or rather Njamoana, for the ladies are the chiefs here) presented 
a string of beads, and a shell highly valued among them, as an 
atonement for having assisted Manenko, as they thought, to vex 
me the day before. They seemed anxious to avert any evil which 
might arise from my displeasure ; but having replied that I never 
kept my anger up all night, they were much pleased to see ihe 
satisfied. We had to cross, in a canoe, a stream which flows 
past the village of Nyamoana. Manenko's doctor waved some 
charms over her, and she took some in her hand and on her body 
before she ventured upon the water. One of my men spoke rath- 
er loudly when near the doctor's basket of medicines. The doc- 
tor reproved him, and always spoke in a whisper himself, glanc- 
ing back to the basket as if afraid of being heard by something 
therein. So much superstition is quite unknown in the south, 
and is mentioned here to show the difference in the feelings of 
this new people, and the comparative want of reverence on these 
points among Caffres and Bechuanas. 

Manenko was accompanied by her husband and her drummer ; 
the latter continued to thump most vigorously until a heavy, 
drizzling mist set in and compelled him to desist. Her husband 



304 AN IDOL.— BALONDA AEMS. 

used various incantations and vociferations to drive awaj the 
rain, but down it poured incessantly, and on our Amazon went, 
in the very lightest marching order, and at a pace that few of the 
men could keep up with. Being on ox-hack, I kept pretty close 
to our leader, and asked her why she did not clothe herself dur- 
ing the rain, and learned that it is not considered proper for a 
chief to appear effeminate. He or she must always wear the ap- 
pearance of robust youth, and bear vicissitudes without wincing. 
My men, in admiration of her pedestrian powers, every now and 
then remarked, "Manenko is a soldier;" and thoroughly wet and 
cold, we were all glad when she proposed a halt to prepare our 
night's lodging on the banks of a stream. 

The country through which we were passing was the same 
succession of forest and open lawns as formerly mentioned: 
the trees were nearly all evergreens, and of good, though not 
very gigantic size. The lawns were covered with grass, which, 
in thickness of crop, looked like ordinary English hay. We 
passed two small hamlets surrounded by gardens of maize and 
manioc, and near each of these I observed, for the first time, an 
ugly idol common in Londa — the figure of an animal, resembling 
an alligator, made of clay. It is formed of grass, plastered over 
with soft clay ; two cowrie-shells are inserted as eyes, and num- 
bers of the bristles from the tail of an elephant are stuck in about 
the neck. It is called a lion, though, if one were not told so, he 
would conclude it to be an alligator. It stood in a shed, and the 
Balonda pray and beat drums before it all night in cases of sick- 
ness. 

Some of the men of Manenko's train had shields made of 
reeds, neatly woven into a square shape, about five feet long and 
three broad. With these, and short broadswords and sheaves of 
iron-headed arrows, they appeared rather ferocious. But the 
constant habit of wearing arms is probably only a substitute for 
the courage they do not possess. We always deposited our fire- 
arms and spears outside a village before entering it, while the 
Balonda, on visiting us at our encampment, always came fully 
armed, until we ordered them either to lay down their weapons 
or be off". Next day we passed through a piece of forest so 
dense that no one could have penetrated it without an axe. It 
was flooded, not by the river, but by the heavy rains which 



HUNGER.— P^VLISADES. 305 

poured down every day, and kept those who had clothing con- 
stantly wet. I observed, in this piece of forest, a very strong 
smell of sulphureted hydrogen. This I had observed repeatedly 
in othei- parts before. I had attacks of fever of the intermittent 
type again and again, in consequence of repeated drenchings in 
these unhealthy spots. 

On the 11th and 12th we were detained by incessant rains, and 
so heavy I never saw the like in the south. I had a little tapio- 
ca and a small quantity of Libonta meal, which I still reserved 
for worse times. The patience of my men under hunger was ad- 
mirable ; the actual want of the present is never so painful as the 
thought of getting nothing in the future. We thought the people 
of some large hamlets very niggardly and very independent of 
their chiefs, for they gave us and Manenko nothing, though they 
had large fields of maize in an eatable state around them. When 
she went and kindly begged some for me, they gave her five ears 
only. They were subjects of her uncle ; and, had they been Ma- 
kololo, would have been lavish in their gifts to the niece of their 
chief. I suspected that they were dependents of some of Shinte's 
principal men, and had no power to part with the maize of their 
masters. 

Each house of these hamlets has a palisade of thick stakes 
around it, and the door is made to resemble the rest of the 
stockade ; the door is never seen open ; when the owner wishes 
to enter, he removes a stake or two, squeezes his body in, then 
plants them again in their places, so that an enemy coming in the 
night would find it difficult to discover the entrance. These pal- 
isades seem to indicate a sense of insecurity in regard to their fel- 
low-men, for there are no wild beasts to disturb them ; the bows 
and arrows have been nearly as efficacious in clearing the country 
here as guns have in the country farther south. This was a dis- 
appointment to us, for we expected a continuance of the abund- 
ance of game in the north which we found when we first came up 
to the confluence of the Leeba and Leeambye. 

A species of the silver-tree of the Cape {Leucodendron argen- 
teion) is found in abundance in the parts through which we have 
traveled since leaving Samoana's. As it grows at a height of 
between two and three thousand feet above the level of the 
sea, on the Cape Table Mountain, and again on the northern 

U 



306 DENSE FORESTS. 

slope of the Cashan Mountains, and here at considerablj greater 
heights (four thousand feet), the difference of climate prevents 
the botanical range being considered as affording a good approxi- 
mation to the altitude. The rapid flow of the Leeambye,- which 
once seemed to me evidence of much elevation of the country 
from which it comes, I now found, by the boiling point of water, 
was fallacious.* 

The forests became more dense as we went north. We travel- 
ed much more in the deep gloom of the forest than in open sun- 
light. No passage existed on either side of the narrow path made 
by the axe. Large climbing plants entwined themselves around 
the trunks and branches of gigantic trees like boa constrictors, 
and they often do constrict the trees by which they rise, and, kill- 
ing them, stand erect themselves. The bark of a fine tree found 
in abundance here, and called "motuia," is used by the Barotse 
for making fish-lines and nets, and the "molompi," so well 
adapted for paddles by its lightness and flexibility, was abund- 
ant. There were other trees quite new to my companions ; many 
of them ran up to a height of fifty feet of one thickness, and with- 
out branches. 

In these forests we first encountered the artificial beehives 
so commonly met with all the way from this to Angola. They 
consist of about five feet of the bark of a tree fifteen or eighteen 



* On examining this subject when I returned to Linyanti, I found that, accord- 
ing to Dr. Arnott, a declivity of three inches per mile gives a velocity in a smooth, 
straight channel of three miles an hour. The general velocity of the Zambesi is 
three miles and three quarters per hour, though in the rocky parts it is some- 
times as much as four and a half. If, however, we make allowances for rough- 
ness of bottom, bendings of channel, and sudden descents at cataracts, and say the 
declivity is even seven inches per mile, those 800 miles between the east coast and 
the great falls would require less than 500 feet to give the observed velocity, and 
the additional distance to this point would require but 150 feet of altitude more. 
If my observation of this altitude may be depended on, we have a steeper declivity 
for the Zambesi than for some other great rivers. The Ganges, for instance, is 
said to be at 1800 miles from its mouth only 800 feet above the level of the sea, 
and water requires a month to come that distance. But there are so many modi- 
fying circumstances, it is difficult to draw any reliable conclusion from the cur- 
rents. The Chobe is sometimes heard of as flooded, about 40 miles above Linyan- 
ti, a fortnight before the inundation reaches that point, but it is very tortuous. The 
great river Magdalena falls only 500 feet in a thousand miles ; other rivers much 
more. 



BEEHIVES.— MUSHEOOMS. 307 

inches in diameter. Two incisions are made right round the 
tree at points five feet apart, then one longitudinal slit from one 
of these to the other ; the workman next lifts up the bark on 
each side of this slit, and detaches it from the trunk, taking 
care not to break it, until the whole comes from the tree. The 
elasticity of the bark makes it assume the form it had before ; 
the slit is seAved or pegged up with wooden pins, and ends made 
of coiled grass-rope are inserted, one of which has a hole for the 
ingress of the bees in the centre, and the hive is complete. 
These hives are placed in a horizontal position on high trees in 
different parts of the forest, and in this way all the wax exported 
from Benguela and Loanda is collected. It is all the produce 
of free labor. A "piece of medicine" is tied round the trunk 
of the tree, and proves sufficient protection against thieves. 
The natives seldom rob each other, for all believe that certain 
medicines can inflict disease and death ; and though they con- 
sider that these are only known to a few, they act on the 
principle that it is best to let them all alone. The gloom 
of these forests strengthens the superstitious feelings of the 
people. Tn other quarters, where they are not subjected to 
this influence, I have heard the chiefs issue proclamations to 
the effect that real witchcraft medicines had been placed at cer- 
tain gardens from which produce had been stolen, the thieves 
having risked the power of the ordinary charms previously placed 
there. 

This being the rainy season, great quantities of mushrooms 
were met with, and were eagerly devoured by my companions : 
the edible variety is always found growing out of ant-hills, and 
attains the diameter of the crown of a hat ; they are quite white, 
and very good, even when eaten raw ; they occupy an extensive 
region of the interior ; some, not edible, are of a brilliant red, and 
others are of the same light blue as the paper used by apotheca- 
ries to put up their medicines. 

There was a considerable pleasure, in spite of rain and fever, in 
this new scenery. The deep gloom contrasted strongly with the 
shadeless glare of the Kalahari, which had left an indelible im- 
pression on my memory. Though drenched day by day at this 
time, and for months afterward, it was long before I could believe 
that we were getting too much of a good thing. Nor could I look 



308 LENDING EOOrS OF HUTS. 

at water being thrown away without a slight, quick impression 
flitting across the mind that we were guilty of wasting it. Every 
now and then we emerged from the deep gloom into a pretty little 
valley, having a damp portion in the middle ; which, though now 
filled with water, at other times contains moisture enough for 
wells only. These wells have shades put over them in the form 
of little huts. 

We crossed, in canoes, a little never-failing stream, which pass- 
es by the name of Lefuje, or " the rapid." It comes from a good- 
ly high mountain, called Monakadzi (the woman), which gladdened 
our eyes as it rose to our sight about twenty or thirty miles to 
the east of our course. It is of an oblong shape, and seemed at 
least eight hundred feet above the plains. The Lefuje probably 
derives its name from the rapid descent of the short course it has 
to flow from Monakadzi to the Leeba. 

The number of little villages seeemed about equal to the 
number of valleys. At some we stopped and rested, the people 
becoming more liberal as we advanced. Others we found de- 
serted, a sudden panic having seized the inhabitants, though the 
drum of Manenko was kept beaten pretty constantly, in order 
to give notice of the approach of great people. When we had 
decided to remain for the night at any village, the inhabitants 
lent us the roofs of their huts, which in form resemble those of 
the Makololo, or a Chinaman's hat, and can be taken off the walls 
at pleasure. They lifted them off, and brought them to the spot 
we had selected as our lodging, and, when my men had propped 
them up with stakes, they were then safely housed for the night. 
Every one who comes to salute either Manenko or ourselves 
rubs the upper parts of the arms and chest with ashes ; those 
who wish to show profounder reverence put some also on the 
face. 

We found that every village had its idols near it. This is the 
case all through the country of the Balonda, so that, when we 
came to an idol in the woods, we always knew that we were 
within a quarter of an hour of human habitations. One very 
ugly idol we passed rested on a horizontal beam placed on 
two upright posts. This beam was furnished with two loops of 
cord, as of a chain, to suspend offerings before it. On remarking 
to my companions that these idols had ears, but that they heard 



MANENKO'S WHIMS. 309 

not, etc., I learned that the Balonda, and even the Barotse, be- 
lieve that divination may be performed by means of these blocks 
of wood and clay ; and though the wood itself could not hear, 
the owners had medicines by which it could be made to hear and 
give responses, so that if an enemy were approaching they 
would have full information. Manenko having brought us to a 
stand on account of slight indisposition and a desire to send for- 
ward notice of our approach to her uncle, I asked why it was nec- 
essary to send forward information of our movements, if Shinte 
had idols who could tell him every thing. " She did it only,"* 
was the reply. It is seldom of much use to show one who wor- 
ships idols the folly of idolatry without giving something else as 
an object of adoration instead. They do not love them. They 
fear them, and betake themselves to their idols only when in per- 
plexity and danger. 

While delayed, by Manenko's management, among the Ba- 
londa villages, a little to the south of the town of Shinte, we 
were well supplied by the villagers with sweet potatoes and 
green maize ; Sambanza went to his mother's village for sup- 
plies of other food. I was laboring under fever, and did not 
find it very difficult to exercise patience with her whims ; but it 
being Saturday, I thought we might as well go to the town for 
Sunday (15th). " No ; her messenger must return from her 
uncle first." Being sure that the answer of the uncle would be 
favorable, I thought we might go on at once, and not lose two 
days in the same spot. " No, it is our custom ;" and every thing 
else I could urge was answered in the genuine pertinacious lady 
style. She ground some meal for me with her own hands, and 
when she brought it told me she had actually gone to a village 
and begged corn for the purpose. She said this with an air as 
if the inference must be drawn by even a stupid white man: 
"I know how to manage, don't I?" It was refreshing to get 
food which could be eaten without producing the unpleasantness 
described by the Eev. John Newton, of St. Mary's, Woolnoth, 
London, when obliged to eat the same roots while a slave in the 
West Indies. The day (January 14th), for a wonder, was fair, 



* This is a curious African idiom, by which a person implies he had no particular 
reason for his act. 



310 MODE OF APPROACHING VILLAGES. 

and the sun shone, so as to allow us to dry our clothing and oth- 
er goods, many of which were mouldy and rotten from the long- 
continued damp. The guns rusted, in spite of being oiled every 
evening. 

During the night we were all awakened by a terrific shriek from 
one of Manenko's ladies. She piped out so loud and long that we 
all imagined she had been seized by a lion, and my men snatched 
up their arms, which they always place so as to be ready at a mo- 
ment's notice, and ran to the rescue ; but we found the alarm had 
been caused by one of the oxen thrusting his head into her hut 
and smelling her : she had put her hand on his cold, wet nose, 
and thought it was all over with her. 

On Sunday afternoon messengers arrived from Shinte, ex- 
pressing his approbation of the objects we had in view in our 
journey through the country, and that he was glad of the pros- 
pect of a way being opened by which white men might visit 
him, and allow him to purchase ornaments at pleasure. Ma- 
nenko now threatened in sport to go on, and I soon afterward 
perceived that what now seemed to me the dilly-dallying way of 
this lady was the proper mode of making acquaintance with the 
Balonda ; and much of the favor with which I was received in 
different places was owing to my sending forW^ard messengers to 
state the object of our coming before entering each town and 
village. When we came in sight of a village we sat down under 
the shade of a tree and sent forward a man to give notice who 
we were and what were our objects. The head man of the 
village then sent out his principal men, as Shinte now did, to bid 
us welcome and show us a tree under which we might sleep. 
Before I had profited by the rather tedious teaching of Manenko, 
I sometimes entered a village and created unintentional alarm. 
The villagers would continue to look upon us with suspicion as 
long as we remained. Shinte sent us two large baskets of 
manioc and six dried fishes. His men had the skin of a mon- 
key, called in their tongue "poluma" {Colobus guereza), of a jet 
black color, except the long mane, which is pure white : it is said 
to be found in the north, in the country of Matiamvo, the para- 
mount chief of all the Balonda. We learned from them that 
they are in the habit of praying to their idols when unsuccessful 
in killing game or in any other enterprise. They behaved with 



A MERMAN. 311 

reverence at our religious services. This will appear important 
if the reader remembers the almost total want of prayer and rever- 
ence we encountered in the south. 

Our friends informed us that Shinte would be highly honored 
by the presence of three white men in his town at once. Two 
others had sent forward notice of their approach from another 
quarter (the west) ; could it be Barth or Krapf ? How pleasant 
to meet with Europeans in such an out-of-the-way region ! The 
rush of thoughts made me almost forget my fever. Are they of 
the same color as I am ? " Yes ; exactly so." And have the same 
hau'? "Is that hair? we thought it was a wig; we never saw 
the like before ; this white man must be of the sort that lives in 
the sea." Henceforth my men took the hint, and always sounded 
rny praises as a true specimen of the variety of white men who 
live in the sea. "Only look at his hair ; it is made quite straight 
by the sea-water!" 

I explained to them again and again that, when it was said we 
came out of the sea, it did not mean that we came from beneath 
the water ; but the fiction has been widely spread in the interior 
by the Mambari that the real white men live in the sea, and the 
myth was too good not .to be taken advantage of by my com- 
panions ; so, notwithstanding my injunctions, I believe that, when 
I was out of hearing, my men always represented themselves as 
led by a genuine merman: "Just see his hair!" If I returned 
from walking to a little distance, they would remark of some to 
whom they had been holding forth, " These people want to see 
your hair." 

As the strangers had woolly hair like themselves, I had to 
give up the idea of meeting any thing more European than two 
half-caste Portuguese, engaged in trading for slaves, ivory, and 
bees'-wax. 

16th. After a short march we came to a most lovely valley 
about a mile and a half wide, and stretching away eastward up 
to a low prolongation of Monakadzi. A small stream meanders 
down the centre of this pleasant green glen ; and on a little rill, 
which flows into it from the western side, stands the town of 
Kabompo, or, as he hkes best to be called, Shinte. (Lat. 12° 
37^ 35'' S., long. 22° 47" E.) When Manenko thought the sun 
was high enough for us to make a lucky entrance, we found 



312 SLAVE-TEADEKS. 

the town emlbowered in banana and other tropical trees having 
great expansion of leaf; the streets are straight, and present 
a complete contrast to those of the Bechuanas, which are all very- 
tortuous. Here, too, we first saw native huts with square walls 
and round roofs. The fences or walls of the courts which sur- 
round the huts are wonderfully straight, and made of upright 
poles a few inches apart, with strong grass or leafy bushes neatly 
woven between. In the courts were small plantations of tobacco, 
and a little solanaceous plant which the Balonda use as a relish; 
also sugar-cane and bananas. Many of the poles have grown 
again, and trees of the Ficus Indica family have been planted 
around, in order to give to the inhabitants a grateful shade : 
they regard this tree with some sort of veneration as a medicine 
or charm. Goats were browsing about, and, when we made our 
appearance, a crowd of negroes, all fully armed, ran toward us 
as if they would eat us up ; some had guns, but the manner 
in which they were held showed that the owners were more 
accustomed to bows and arrows than to white men's weapons. 
After surrounding and staring at us for an hour, they began to 
disperse. 

The two native Portuguese traders of whom we had heard had 
erected a little encampment opposite the place where ours was 
about to be made. One of them, whose spine had been injured 
in youth — a rare sight in this country — came and visited us. I 
returned the visit next morning. His tall companion had that 
sickly yellow hue which made him look fairer than myself, but 
his head was covered with a crop of unmistakable wool. They 
had a -gang of young female slaves in a chain, hoeing the ground 
in front of their encampment to clear it of weeds and grass ; these 
were purchased recently in Lobale, whence the traders had now 
come. There were many Mambari with them, and the establish- 
ment was conducted with that military order which pervades all 
the arrangements of the Portuguese colonists. A drum was beaten 
and trumpet sounded at certain hours, quite in military fashion. 
It was the first time most of my men had seen slaves in chains. 
"They are not men," they exclaimed (meaning they are beasts), 
"who treat their children so." 

The Balonda are real negroes, having much more wool on their 
heads and bodies than any of the Bechuana or Cafire tribes. 



KECEPTION BY SHINTE. 315 

They are generally very dark in color, but several are to be 
seen of a lighter hue ; many of the slaves who have been ex- 
ported to Brazil have gone from this region ; but while they 
have a general similarity to the typical negro, I never could, 
from my own observation, think that our ideal negro, as seen in 
tobacconists' shops, is the true type. A large proportion of the 
Balonda, indeed, have heads somewhat elongated backward and 
upward, thick lips, fiat noses, elongated ossa calces, etc., etc. ; but 
there are also many good-looking, well-shaped heads and persons 
among them. 

11th, Tuesday. We were honored with a grand reception by 
Shinte about eleven o'clock. Sambanza claimed the honor of 
presenting us, Manenko being slightly indisposed. The native 
Portuguese and Mambari went fully armed with guns, in order 
to give Shinte a salute ; their drummer and trumpeter making all 
the noise that very old instruments would produce. The kotla, 
or place of audience, was about a hundred yards square, and 
two graceful specimens of a species of banian stood near one 
end ; under one of these sat Shinte, on a sort of throne covered 
with a leopard's skin. He had on a checked jacket, and a kilt of 
scarlet baize edged with green ; many strings of large beads hung 
from his neck, and his limbs were covered with iron and copper 
armlets and bracelets ; on his head he wore a helmet made of 
beads woven neatly together, and crowned with a great bunch of 
goose-feathers. Close to him sat three lads with large sheaves 
of arrows over their shoulders. 

When we entered the kotla, the whole of Manenko's party 
saluted Shinte by clapping their hands, and Sambanza did 
obeisance by rubbing his chest and arms with ashes. One of 
the trees being unoccupied, I retreated to it for the sake of the 
shade, and my whole party did the same. We were now about 
forty yards from the chief, and could see the whole ceremony. 
The different sections of the tribe came forward in the same way 
that we did, the head man of each making obeisance with ashes 
which he carried with him for the purpose ; then came the sol- 
diers, all armed to the teeth, running and shouting toward us, 
with their swords drawn, and their faces screwed up so as to ap- 
pear as savage as possible, for the purpose, I thought, of trying 
whether they could not make us take to our heigls. As we did 



316 RECEPTION BY SHINTE. 

not, they turned round toward Shinte and saluted him, then re- 
tired. When all had come and were seated, then began the 
curious capering usually seen in pichos. A man starts up, and 
imitates the most approved attitudes observed in actual fight, 
as throwing one javelin, receiving another on the shield, spring- 
ing to one side to avoid a third, running backward or forward, 
leaping, etc. This over, Sambanza and the spokesman of Ny- 
amoana stalked backward and forward in front of Shinte, and 
gave forth, in a loud voice, all they had been able to learn, 
either from myself or people, of my past history and connec- 
tion with the Makololo ; the return of the captives ; the wish to 
open the country to trade ; the Bible as a word from heaven ; 
the white man's desire for the tribes to live in peace : he ought 
to have taught the Makololo that first, for the Balonda never 
attacked them, yet they had assailed the Balonda: perhaps he 
is fibbing, perhaps not ; they rather thought he was ; but as 
the Balonda had good hearts, and Shinte had never done harm 
to any one, he had better receive the white man well, and send 
him on his way. Sambanza was gayly attired, and, besides a pro- 
fusion of beads, had a cloth so long that a boy carried it after him 
as a train. 

Behind Shinte sat about a hundred women, clothed in their 
best, which happened to be a profusion of red baize. The chief 
wife of Shinte, one of the Matebele or Zulus, sat in front with a 
curious red cap on her head. During the intervals between the 
speeches, these ladies burst forth into a sort of plaintive ditty ; 
but it was impossible for any of us to catch whether it was in 
praise of the speaker, of Shinte, or of themselves. This was the 
first time I had ever seen females present in a public assembly. 
In the south the women are not permitted to enter the kotla ; 
and even when invited to come to a religious service there, would 
not enter until ordered to do so by the chief; but here they ex- 
pressed approbation by clapping their hands, and laughing to dif- 
ferent speakers ; and Shinte firequently turned round and spoke to 
them. 

A party of musicians, consisting of three drummers and four 
performers on the piano, went round the kotla several times, 
regaling us with their music. Their drums are neatly carved 
from the trunk of a tree, and have a small hole in the side 



MUSICIANS AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 



317 



covered with a bit of spider's web : the ends are covered with the 
skin of an antelope pegged on ; and when they wish to tighten it, 
they hold it to the fire to make it contract : the instruments are 
beaten with the hands. 




The Marimba, or Musical Instrument of the Balonda. 

The piano, named " marimba," consists of two bars o± wood 
placed side by side, here quite straight, but, farther north, bent 
round so as to resemble half the tire of a carriage- wheel ; across 
these are placed about fifteen wooden keys, each of which is two 
or three inches broad, and fifteen or eighteen inches long; their 
thickness is regulated according to the deepness of the note 
required : each of the keys has a calabash beneath it ; from the 
upper, part of each a portion is cut off to enable them to embrace 
the bars, and form hollow sounding-boards to the keys, which 
also are of different sizes, according to the note required ; and 
little drumsticks elicit the music. Rapidity of execution seems 
much admired among them, and the music is pleasant to the 
ear. In Angola the Portuguese use the marimba in their 
dances. 

When nine speakers had concluded their orations, Shinte stood 
up, and so did all the people. He had maintained true African 



318 PKIVATE INTERVIEW WITH SHINTE. 

dignity of manner all the while, Ibut my people remarked that he 
scarcely ever took his eyes oflf me for a moment. About a thou- 
sand people were present, according to vaj calculation, and three 
hundred soldiers. The sun had now become hot ; and the scene 
ended by the Mambari discharging their guns. 

18t/i. We were awakened during the night by a message from 
Shinte, requesting a visit at a very unseasonable hour. As I 
was just in the sweating stage of an intermittent, and the path 
to the town lay through a wet valley, I declined going. Kolira- 
bota, who knows their customs best, urged me to go ; but, inde- 
pendent of sickness, I hated words of the night and deeds of 
darkness. " I was neither a hygena nor a witch." Kolimbota 
thought that we ought to conform to their wishes in every thing : 
I thought we ought to have some choice in the matter as well, 
which put him into high dudgeon. However, at ten next 
morning M^e went, and Were led into the courts of Shinte, the 
walls of which were woven rods, all very neat and high. Many 
trees stood within the inclosure and afforded a grateful shade. 
These had been planted, for we saw some recently put in, with 
grass wound round the trunk to protect them from the sun. The 
otherwise waste corners of the streets were planted with sugar- 
cane and bananas, which spread their large light leaves over the 
walls. 

The Ficus Indica tree, under which we now sat, had very large 
leaves, but showed its relationship to the Indian banian by send- 
ing down shoots toward the ground, Shinte soon came, and 
appeared a man of upward of fifty-five years of age, of frank and 
open countenance, and about the middle height. He seemed in 
good humor, and said he had expected yesterday "that a man 
who came from the gods would have approached and talked to 
him." That had been my own intention in going to the recep- 
tion ; but when we came and saw the formidable preparations, 
and all his own men keeping at least forty yards off from him, I 
yielded to the solicitations of my men, and remained by the tree 
opposite to that under which he sat. His remark confirmed my 
previous belief that a frank, open, fearless manner is the most 
winning with all these Africans. I stated the object of my jour- 
ney and mission, and to all I advanced the old gentleman clap- 
ped his hands in approbation. He replied through a spokes- 



FERTILITY OF SOIL. 319 

man ; then all the company joined in the response by clapping of 
hands too. 

After the more serious business was over, I asked if he had 
ever seen a white man before. He replied, "Never; you are 
the very first I have seen with a white skin and straight hair; 
your clothing, too, is different from any we have ever seen." 
They had been visited by native Portuguese and Mambari 
only. 

On learning from some of the people that " Shinte's mouth was 
bitter for want of tasting ox-flesh," I presented him with an ox, 
to his great delight ; and, as his country is so well adapted for 
cattle, I advised him to begin a trade in cows with the Makololo. 
He was pleased with the idea, and when we returned from Loan- 
da, we found that he had profited by the hint, for he had got three, 
and one of them justified my opinion of the country, for it was 
more like a prize heifer for fatness than any we had seen in Af- 
rica. He soon afterward sent us a basket of green maize boiled, 
another of manioc-meal, and a small fowl. The maize shows by 
its size the fertility of the black soil of all the valleys here, and so 
does the manioc, though no manure is ever applied. We saw ma- 
nioc attain a height of six feet and upward, and this is a plant 
which requires the very best soil. 

During this time Manenko had been extremely busy with all 
her people in getting up a very pretty hut and court-yard, to be, as 
she said, her residence always when white men were brought by 
her along the same path. When she heard that we had given an 
ox to her uncle, she came forward to us with the air of one wrong- 
ed, and explained that " this white man belonged to her ; she had 
brought him here, and therefore the ox was hers, not Shinte's." 
She ordered her men to bring it, got it slaughtered by them, and 
presented her uncle with a leg only. Shinte did not seem at all 
annoyed at the occurrence. 

19 1 A. I was awakened at an early hour by a messenger from 
Shinte; but the thirst of a raging fever being just assuaged 
by the bursting forth of a copious perspiration, I declined going 
for a few hours. Violent action of the heart all the way to the 
town did not predispose me to be patient with the delay which 
then occurred, probably on account of the divination being unfa- 
vorable: "They could not find Shinte." When I returned to 



320 CONVEESATION WITH SHINTE. 

bed, another message was received, " Shinte wished to say all he 
had to tell me at once." This was too tempting an offer, so we 
went, and he had a fowl ready in his hand to present, also a bas- 
ket of manioc-meal, and a calabash of mead. Referring to the 
constantly-recurring attacks of fever, he remarked that it was the 
only thing which would prevent a successful issue to my journey, 
for he had men to guide me who knew all the paths which led to 
the white men. He had himself traveled far when a young man. 
On asking what he would recommend for the fever, "Drink 
plenty of the mead, and as it gets in, it will drive the fever out." 
It was rather strong, and I suspect he liked the remedy pretty 
well, even though he had no fever. He had always been a friend 
to Sebituane, and, now that his son Sekeletu was in his place, 
Shinte was not merely a friend, but a father to him ; and if a son 
asks a favor, the father must give it. He was highly pleased 
with the large calabashes of clarified butter and fat which 
Sekeletu had sent him, and wished to detain Kolimbota, that he 
might send a present back to Sekeletu by his hands. This prop- 
osition we afterward discovered was Kolimbota's own, as he had 
heard so much about the ferocity of the tribes through which we 
were to pass that he wished to save his skin. It will be seen far- 
ther on that he was the only one of our party who returned with 
a wound. 

We were particularly struck, in passing through the village, 
with the punctiliousness of manners shown by the Balonda. The 
inferiors, on meeting their superiors in the street, at once drop on 
their knees and rub dust on their arms and chest ; they continue 
the salutation of clapping the hands until the great ones have pass- 
ed. Sambanza knelt down in this manner till the son of Shinte 
had passed him. 

"We several times saw the woman who occupies the office of 
drawer of water for Shinte ; she rings a bell as she passes along 
to give warning to all to keep out of her way ; it would be a 
grave offense for any one to come near her, and exercise an evil 
influence by his presence on the drink of the chief. I suspect 
that offenses of the slightest character among the poor are made 
the pretext for selling them or their children to the Mambari. 
A young man of Lobale had fled into the country of Shinte, and 
located himself without showing himself to the chief. This was 



KIDNAPPING. 321 

considered an oiFense sufficient to warrant his teing .seized and of- 
fered for sale while we were there. He had not reported himself, 
so they did not know the reason of his running away from his 
own chief, and that chief might accuse them of receiving a crimi- 
nal. It was curious to notice the effect of the, slave-trade in 
blunting the moral susceptibility : no chief in the south would 
treat a fugitive in this way. My men were horrified at the act, 
even though old Shinte and his council had some show of reason 
on their side ; and both the Barotse and the Makololo declared 
that, if the Balonda only knew of the policy pursued by them to 
fugitives, but few of the discontented would remain long with 
Shinte. My men excited the wonder of his people by ytating 
that every one of them had one cow at least in his possession. 

Another incident, which occurred while we were here, may be 
mentioned, as of a character totally unknown in the south. Two 
children, of seven and eight years old, went out to collect fire- 
wood a short distance from their parents' home, which was a quar- 
ter of a mile from the village, and were kidnapped ; the distracted 
parents could not find a trace of them. This happened so close 
to the town, where there are no beasts of prey, that we suspect 
some of the high men of Shinte's court were the guilty parties : 
they can sell them by night. The Mamhari erect large huts of 
a square shape to stow these stolen ones in ; they are well fed, 
but aired by night only. The frequent kidnapping from out- 
lying hamlets explains the stockades we saw around them ; 
the parents have no redress, for even Shinte himself seems fond 
of working in the dark. One night he sent for me, though T 
always stated I liked all my dealings to be aboveboard. When 
I came he presented me with a slave girl about ten years old ; 
he said he had always been in the habit of presenting his visit- 
ors with a child. On my thanking him, and saying that I 
thought it ^VTong to take away children from their parents, that 
I wished him to give up this system altogether, and trade in 
cattle, ivory, and bees'- wax, he urged that she was "to be a 
child" to bring me water, and that a great man ought to have 
a child for the purpose, yet I had none. As I replied that I had 
four children, and should be very sorry if my chief were to take 
my little girl and give her away, and that I would prefer this 
child to remain and carry water for her own mother, he thought 



322 \ ' MAGIC LANTERN. 

I was dissatisfied with her size, and sent for one a head taller; 
after many explanations of our abhorrence of slavery, and how 
displeasing ^t must be to God to see his children selling one 
another, and giving each other so much grief as this child's 
mother mnst feel, I declined her also. If I could have taken 
her into my family for the purpose of instruction, and then re- 
turned Jier as a free woman, according to a promise I should 
have mMe to the parents, I might have done so ; but to take 
her away, and probably never be able to secure her return, would 
have produced no good effect on the minds of the Balonda ; they 
would not then have seen evidence of our hatred to slavery, and 
the kii^- attentions of my friends would, as it almost always does 
in similar cases, have turned the poor thing's head. The dif- 
ference in position between them and us is as great as between 
the lowest and highest in England, and we know the effects of 
sudden elevation on wiser heads than hers, whose owners had not 
been born to it. 

Shinte was most anxious to see the pictures of the magic 
lantern ; but fever had so weakening an effect, and I had such 
violent action of the heart, with buzzing in the ears, that I could 
not go for several days ; when I did go for the purpose, he had 
his principal men and the same crowd of court beauties near 
him as at the reception. The first picture exhibited was Abra- 
ham about to slaughter his son Isaac ; it was shown as large as 
life, and the uplifted knife was in the act of striking the lad ; 
the Balonda men remarked that the picture was much more like 
a god than the things of wood or clay they worshiped. I ex- 
plained that this man was the first of a race to whom God had 
given the Bible we now held, and that among his children our 
Savior appeared. The ladies listened with silent awe; but, 
when I moved the slide, the uplifted dagger moving toward 
them, they thought it was to be sheathed in their bodies instead 
of Isaac's. "Mother! mother!" all shouted at once, and off 
they rushed helter-skelter, tumbling pell-mell over each other, 
and^ over the little idol-huts and tobacco-bushes : we could not 
o-et one of them back again. Shinte, however, sat bravely 
through the whole, and afterward examined the instrument 
with interest. An explanation was always added after each 
time of showing its powers, so that no one should imagine there 



DELAY.— HEAVY EAINS. 323 

was auglit supernatural in it ; and had Mr. Murray, who kindly- 
brought it from England, seen its popularity among both Mako- 
lolo and Balonda, he would have been gratified with the direction 
his generosity then took. It was the only mode of instruction 
I was ever pressed to repeat. The people came long distances 
for the express purpose of seeing the objects and hearing the 
explanations. 

One can not get away quickly from these chiefs ; they like to 
have the honor of strangers residing in their villages. Here we 
had an additional cause of delay in frequent rains ; twenty-four 
hours never elapsed without heavy showers ; every thing is affected 
by the dampness ; surgical instruments become all rusty, clothing 
mildewed, and shoes mouldy ; my little tent was now so rotten 
and so full of small holes that every smart shower caused a fine 
mist to descend on my blanket, and made me fain to cover the 
head Avith it. Heavy dews lay on every thing in the morning, 
even inside the tent ; there is only a short time of sunshine in the 
afternoon, and even that is so interrupted by thunder-showers that 
we can not dry our bedding. 

The Vv^inds coming from the north always bring heavy clouds 
and rain ; in the south, the only heavy rains noticed are those 
which come from the northeast or east. The thermometer falls as 
low as 72° when there is no sunshine, though, when the weather 
is fair, the protected thermometer generally rises as high as 82°, 
even in the mornings and evenings. 

I^th. We expected to have started, to-day, but Sambanza, who 
had been sent off early in the morning for guides, returned at 
midday without them, and drunk. This was the first case of real 
babbling intoxication we had seen in this region. The boyaloa, 
or beer of the country, has more of a stupefying than exciting 
nature ; hence the beer-bibbers are great sleepers ; they may fre- 
quently be seen lying on their faces sound asleep. This peculiarity 
of posture was ascribed, by no less an authority than Aristotle, to 
wine, while those who were sent asleep by beer were believed 
*'to lie upon their backs." 

Sambanza had got into a state of inebriation from indulging 
in mead, similar to that which Shinte presented to us, which is 
much more powerful than boyaloa. As far as we could collect 
from his incoherent sentences, Shinte had said the rain was too 



324 



SHINTE'S LAST PROOF OF FRIENDSHIP. 



heavy for our departure, and the guides still required time for 
preparation. Shinte himself was busy getting some meal ready 
±br mj use in the journey. As it rained nearly all day, it was 
no sacrifice to submit to his advice and remain. Samhanza stag- 
gered to Manenko's hut ; she, however, who had never promised 
" to love, honor, and obey him," had not been " nursing her wrath 
to keep it warm," so she coolly bundled him into the hut, and put 
him to bed. 

As the last proof of friendship, Shinte came into my tent, 
though it could scarcely contain more than one person, looked 
at all the curiosities, the quicksilver, the looking-glass, books, 
hair-brushes, comb, watch, etc., etc., with the greatest interest ; 
then closing the tent, so that none of his own people might 




Shell, and ornament made of its end. 



FAKEWELL TO SHINTE. 325 

see the extravagance of which lie was about to be guilty, he drew 
out from his clothing a string of beads, and the end of a conical 
shell, Avhich is considered, in regions far from the sea, of as great 
value as the Lord Mayor's badge is in London. He hung it 
round my neck, and said, " There, now you have a proof of my 
friendship." 

My men informed me that these shells are so highly valued in 
this quarter, as evidences of distinction, that for two . of them a 
slave might be bought, and five would be considered a handsome 
price for an elephant's tusk worth ten pounds. At our last inter- 
view old Shinte pointed out our pincipal guide, Intemese, a man 
about fifty, who was, he said, ordered to remain by us till we should 
reach the sea ; that I had now left Sekeletu far behind, and must 
henceforth look to Shinte alone for aid, and that it would always 
be most cheerfully rendered. This was only a polite way of ex- 
pressing his wishes for my success. It was the good words only 
of the guides which were to aid me from the next chief, Katema, 
on to the sea ; they were to turn back on reaching him ; but he 
gave a good supply of food for the journey before us, and, after 
mentioning as a reason for letting us go even now that no one 
could say we had been driven away from the town, since we had 
been several days with him, he gave a most hearty salutation, and 
we parted with the wish that God might bless him. 



326 . MANIOC GARDENS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Leave Shinte. — Manioc Gardens. — Mode of preparing the poisonous kind. — 
Its general Use. — Presents of Food. — Punctiliousness of the Balonda. — 
Their Idols and Superstition. — Dress of the Balonda. — Villages beyond 
Lonaje. — Cazembe. — Our Guides and the Makololo. — Night Rains. — Inqui- 
ries for English cotton Goods. — Intemese's Eiction. — Visit from an old Man. — 
Theft. — Industry of our Guide. — Loss of Pontoon. — Plains covered with 
Water. — Aifection of the Balonda for their Mothers. — A Night on an Isl- 
and. — The Grass on the Plains. — Source of the Elvers. — Loan of the Eoofs 
of Huts. — A Halt. — FertiUty of the Country through which the Lokalueje 
flows. — Omnivorous Eish. — Natives' Mode of catching them.— The Village of a 
Half-brother of Katema, his Speech and Present. — Our Guide's PeiTcrsity. — 
Mozenkwa's pleasant Home and Family. — Clear Water of the flooded Rivers. — 
A Messenger from Katema. — Quendende's Village : his Kindness. — Crop of 
Wool. — Meet People from the Town of Matiamvo. — Fireside Talk. — Matiam- 
vo's Character and Conduct. — Presentation at Katema's Court: his Present, 
good Sense, and Appearance. — Interview on the following Day. — Cattle. — A 
Feast and a Makololo Dance. — Arrest of a Fugitive. — Dignified old Courtier. — 
Katema's lax Government. — Cold Wind from the North. — Canaries and other 
singing Birds. — Spiders, their Nests and Webs. — Lake Dilolo. — Tradition. — Sa- 
gacity of Ants. 

26ih. Leaving Shinte, with eight of his men to aid in carrying 
our luggage, we passed, in a northerly direction, down the lovely 
valley on which the town stands, then went a little to the west 
through pretty open forest, and slept at a village of Balonda. In 
the morning we had a fine range of green hills, called Saloisho, 
on our right, and were informed that they were rather thickly in- 
habited by the people of Shinte, who worked in iron, the ore of 
which abounds in these hills. 

The country through which we passed possessed the same 
general character of flatness and forest that we noticed before. 
The soil is dark, with a tinge of red — in some places it might 
be called red — and appeared very fertile. Every valley con- 
tained villages of twenty or thirty huts, with gardens of manioc, 
which here is looked upon as the staff of life. Very little labor 
is required for its cultivation. The earth is drawn up into 
oblong beds, about three feet broad and one in height, and in 



MANIOC PORRIDGE. 327 

these are planted pieces of the manioc stalk, at four feet apart. 
A crop of beans or ground-nuts is sown between them, and when 
these are reaped the land around the manioc is cleared of weeds. 
In from ten to eighteen months after planting, according to the 
quality of the soil, the roots are fit for food. There is no neces- 
sity for reaping soon, as the roots do not become bitter and dry 
until after three years. When a woman takes up the roots, she 
thrusts a piece or two of the upper stalks into the hole she has 
made, draws back the soil, and a new crop is thereby begun. The 
plant grows to a height of six feet, and every part of it is useful : 
the leaves may be cooked as a vegetable. The roots are from 
three to four inches in diameter, and from twelve to eighteen inches 
long. 

There are two varieties of the manioc or cassava — one sweet 
and wholesome, the other bitter and containing poison, but much 
more speedy in its growth than the former. This last property 
causes its perpetuation. When we reached the village of Ka- 
pende, on the banks of the rivulet Lonaje, we were presented 
with so much of the poisonous kind that we were obliged to 
leave it. To get rid of the poison, the people place it four days 
in a pool of water. It then becomes partially decomposed, and 
is taken out, stripped of its skin, and exposed to the sun. When 
dried, it is easily pounded into a fine white meal, closely resem- 
bling starch, which has either a little of the peculiar taste 
arising from decomposition, or no more flavor than starch. 
When intended to be used as food, this meal is stirred into 
boiling water: they put in as much as can be moistened, one 
man holding the vessel and the other stirring the porridge 
with all his might. This is the common mess of the country. 
Though hungry, we could just manage to swallow it with the 
aid of a little honey, which I shared with my men as long as it 
lasted. It is very unsavory {Scottice wersh); and no matter 
how much one may eat, two hours afterward he is as hungry as 
ever. When less meal is employed, the mess is exactly like a 
basin of starch in the hands of a laundress ; and if the starch 
were made from diseased potatoes, some idea might be formed of 
the Balonda porridge, which hunger alone forced us to eat. San- 
turu forbade his nobles to eat it, as it caused coughing and ex- 
pectoration. 



328 PUNCTILIOUSNESS OF THE BALONDA. 

Our cliief guide, Intemese, sent orders to all the villages around 
our route that Shinte's friends must have abundance of provis- 
ions. Our progress was impeded by the time requisite for com- 
municating the chief's desire and consequent preparation of meal. 
We received far more food from Shinte's people than from him- 
self. Kapende, for instance, presented two large baskets of meal, 
three of manioc roots steeped and dried in the sun and ready to 
be converted into flour, three fowls, and seven eggs, with three 
smoke-dried fishes ; and others gave with similar liberality. 1 
gave to the head men small bunches of my stock of beads, with 
an apology that we were now on our way to the market for these 
goods. The present was always politely received. 

We had an opportunity of observing that our guides had 
much more etiquette than any of the tribes farther south. They 
gave us food, but would not partake of it when we had cooked 
it, nor would they eat their own food in our presence. When 
it was cooked they retired into a thicket and ate their porridge ; 
then all stood up, and clapped their hands, and praised Intemese 
for it. The Makololo, who are accustomed to the most free and 
easy manners, held out handfuls of what they had cooked to any 
of the Balonda near, but they refused to taste. They are very 
punctilious in their manners to each other. Each hut has its 
own fire, and when it goes out they make it afresh for themselves 
rather than take it from a neighbor. I believe much of this 
arises from superstitious fears. In the deep, dark forests near 
each village, as already mentioned, you see idols intended to 
represent the human head or a lion, or a crooked stick smeared 
with medicine, or simply a small pot of medicine in a little shed, 
or miniature huts with little mounds of earth in them. But in 
the darker recesses we meet with human faces cut in the bark 
of trees, the outlines of which, with the beards, closely resemble 
those seen on Egyptian monuments. Frequent cuts are made 
on the trees along all the paths, and offerings of small pieces of 
manioc roots or ears of maize are placed on branches. There 
are also to be seen every few miles heaps of sticks, which are 
treated in cairn fashion, by every one throwing a small branch 
to the heap in passing ; or a few sticks are placed on the path, 
and each passer-by turns from his course, and forms a sudden 
bend in the road to one side. It seems as if their minds were 



VILLAGES BEYOND THE LONAJE. 329 

ever in doubt and dread in these gloomy reeesses of the forest, 
and that they were striving to propitiate, by their offerings, some 
superior beings residing there. 

The dress of the Balonda men consists of the softened skins of 
small animals, as the jackal or wild cat, hung before and behind 
from a girdle round the loins. The dress of the women is of a 
nondescript character ; but they were not immodest. They stood 
before us as perfectly unconscious of any indecorum as we could 
be with our clothes on. But, while ignorant of their own defi- 
ciency, they could not maintain their gravity at the sight of the 
nudity of my men behind. Much to the annoyance of my com- 
panions, the young girls laughed outright whenever their backs 
were turned to them. 

After crossing the Lonaje, we came to some pretty villages, 
embowered, as the negro villages usually are, in bananas, shrubs, 
and manioc, and near the banks of the Leeba we formed our en- 
campment in a nest of serpents, one of which bit one of our men, 
but the wound was harmless. The people of the surrounding vil- 
lages presented us with large quantities of food, in obedience to 
the mandate of Shinte, without expecting any equivalent. One 
village had lately been transferred hither from the country of Ma- 
tiamvo. They, of course, continue to acknowledge him as para- 
mount chief; but the frequent instances which occur of people 
changing from one part of the country to another, show that the 
great chiefs possess only a limited power. The only peculiarity 
we observed in these people is the habit of plaiting the beard into 
a three-fold cord. 

The town of the Balonda chief Cazembe was pointed out to 
us as lying to the N.E. and by E. from the town of Shinte, and 
great numbers of people in this quarter have gone thither for 
the purpose of purchasing copper anklets, made at Cazembe's, 
and report the distance to be about five days' journey. I made 
inquiries of some of the oldest inhabitants of the villages at 
which we were staying respecting the visit of Pereira and 
Lacerda to that town. An old gray-headed man replied that 
they had often heard of white men before, but never had seen 
one, and added that one had come to Cazembe when our informant 
was young, and returned again without entering this part of the 
country. The people of Cazembe are Balonda or Baloi, and 



330 NIGHT-EAINS. 

his country has "been termed Londa, Lunda, or Lui, by the Por- 
tuguese. 

It was always difficult to get our guides to move away from 
a place. With the authority of the chief, they felt as comfortable 
as king's messengers could, and were not disposed to forego the 
pleasure of living at free quarters. My Makololo friends were 
but ill drilled as yet ; and since they had never left their own 
country before, except for purposes of plunder, they did not take 
readily to the peaceful system we now meant to follow. They 
either spoke too imperiously to strangers, or, when reproved for 
that, were disposed to follow the dictation of every one we met. 
When Intemese, our guide, refused to stir toward the Leeba on 
the 31st of January, they would make no effort to induce him 
to go ; but, having ordered them to get ready, Intemese saw 
the preparations, and soon followed the example. It took us 
about four hours to cross the Leeba, which is considerably 
smaller here than where we left it — indeed, only about a hundred 
yards wide. It has the same dark mossy hue. The villagers 
lent us canoes to effect our passage ; and, having gone to a vil- 
lage about two miles beyond the river, I had the satisfaction of 
getting observations for both longitude and latitude — for the 
former, the distance between Saturn and the Moon, and for the 
latter a meridian altitude of Canopus. Long. 22° 57^ E., lat. 
12° 6^ 6^' S. 

These were the only opportunities I had of ascertaining my 
whereabouts in this part of Londa. Again and again did I take 
out the instruments, and, just as all was right, the stars would be 
suddenly obscured by clouds. I had never observed so great an 
amount of cloudiness in any part of the south country ; and as 
for the rains, I believe that years at Kolobeng would not have 
made my little tent so rotten and thin as one month had done in 
Londa. I never observed in the south the heavy night and 
early morning rains we had in this country. They often con- 
tinued all night, then became heavier about an hour before 
dawn. Or if fair during the night, as day drew nigh, an ex- 
tremely heavy, still, pouring rain set in without warning. Five 
out of every six days we had this pouring rain, at or near break 
of day, for months together ; and it soon beat my tent so thin, 
that a mist fell through on my face and made every thing damp. 



INTEMESE'S FICTION.— THEFT. 331 

The rains were occasionally, but not always, accompanied with 
very loud thunder. 

February 1st. This day we had a fine view of two hills call- 
ed Piri (Peeri), meaning "two," on the side of the river we had 
left. The country there is named Mokwankwa. And there In- 
temese informed us one of Shinte's children was born, when he was 
in his progress southward from the country of Matiamvo. This 
part of the country would thus seem not to have been inhabited 
by the people of Shinte at any very remote period. He told me 
himself that he had come into his present country by command of 
Matiamvo. 

Here we were surprised to hear English cotton cloth much more 
eagerly inquired after than beads and ornaments. They are more 
in need of clothing than the Bechuana tribes living adjacent to the 
Kalahari Desert, who have plenty of skins for the purpose. An- 
imals of all kinds are rare here, and a very small piece of calico 
is of great value. 

In the midst of the heavy rain, which continued all the morn- 
ing, Intemese sent to say he was laid up with pains in the stom- 
ach, and must not be disturbed ; but when it cleared up, about 
eleven, I saw our friend walking off to the village, and talking with 
a very loud voice. On reproaching him for telling an untruth, he 
turned it off with a laugh by saying he really had a complaint in 
his stomach, which I might cure by slaughtering one of the oxen 
and allowing him to eat beef. He was evidently reveling in the 
abundance of good food the chiefs orders brought us ; and he did 
not feel the shame I did when I gave a few beads only in return 
for large baskets of meal. 

A very old man visited us here with a present of maize : like 
the others, he had never before seen a white man, and, when con- 
versing with him, some of the young men remarked that they were 
the true ancients, for they had now seen more wonderful things 
than their forefathers. 

One of Intemese's men stole a fowl given me by a lady of 
the village. When charged with the theft, every one of Inte- 
mese's party vociferated his innocence and indignation at being 
suspected, continuing their loud asseverations and gesticulations 
for some minutes. One of my men, Loyanke, went off to the 
village, brought the lady who had presented the fowl to identify 



332 PLAINS COVEEED WITH WATEE. 

it, and then pointed to the hut in which it was hidden. The Ba- 
londa collected round him, evincing great wrath ; but Loyanke 
seized his battle-axe in the proper manner for striking, and, placing 
himself on a little hillock, soon made them moderate their tones. 
Intemese then called on me to send one of my people to search 
the huts if I suspected his people. The man sent soon found it, 
and brought it out, to the confusion of Intemese and the laughter 
of our party. This incident is mentioned to show that the greater 
superstition which exists here does not lead to the practice of the 
virtues. We never met an instance like this of theft from a white 
man among the Makololo, though they complain of the Makalaka 
as addicted to pilfering. The honesty of the Bakwains has been 
already noticed. Probably the estimation in which I was held as 
a public benefactor, in which character I was not yet known to 
the Balonda, may account for the sacredness with which my prop- 
erty was always treated before. But other incidents which hap- 
pened subsequently showed, as well as this, that idolaters are not 
so virtuous as those who have no idols. 

As the people on the banks of the Leeba were the last of 
Shinte's tribe over which Intemese had power, he was naturally 
anxious to remain as long as possible. He was not idle, but 
made a large wooden mortar and pestle for his wife during our jour- 
ney. He also carved many wooden spoons and a bowl ; then 
commenced a basket ; but as what he considered good living was 
any thing but agreeable to us, who had been accustomed to milk 
and maize, we went forward on the 2d without him. He soon fol- 
lowed, but left our pontoon, saying it would be brought by the 
head man of the village. This was a great loss, as we afterward 
found ; it remained at this village more than a year, and when 
we returned a mouse had eaten a hole in it. 

We entered on an extensive plain beyond the Leeba, at least 
twenty miles broad, and covered with water, ankle deep in the 
shallowest parts. We deviated somewhat from our N. W. course 
by the direction of Intemese, and kept the hills Piri nearly on 
our right during a great part of the first day, in order to avoid 
the still more deeply flooded plains of Lobale (Luval?) on the 
west. These, according to Intemese, are at present impassable 
on account of being thigh deep. The plains are so perfectly 
level that rain-water, which this was, stands upon them for 



LOVE OF BALONDA FOE THEIR MOTHERS. 333 

months together. They were not flooded hj the Leeba, for that 
was still far within it^ banks. Here and there, dotted over the 
surface, are little islands, on which grow stunted date-bushes and 
scraggy trees. The plains themselves are covered with a thick 
sward of grass, which conceals the water, and makes the flats 
appear like great pale yellow-colored prairie-lands, with a clear 
horizon, except where interrupted here and there by trees. The 
clear rain-water must have stood some time among the grass, for 
great numbers of lotus-flowers were seen in full blow ; and the 
runs of water tortoises and crabs were observed ; other animals 
also, which prey on the fish that find their way to the plains. 

The continual splashing of the oxen keeps the feet of the rider 
constantly wet, and my men complain of the perpetual moisture 
of the paths by which we have traveled in Londa as softening 
their horny soles. The only information we can glean is from 
Intemese, who points out the difterent localities as we pass along, 
and among the rest "Mokala a Mama," his "mamma's home." 
It was interesting to hear this tall gray-headed man recall the 
memories of boyhood. All the Makalaka children cleave to the 
mother in cases of separation, or removal from one part of the 
country to another. This love for mothers does not argue supe- 
rior morality in other respects, or else Intemese has forgotten any 
injunctions his mamma may have given him not to tell lies. The 
respect, however, with which he spoke of her was quite charac- 
teristic of his race. The Bechuanas, on the contrary, care noth- 
ing for their mothers, but cling to their fathers, especially if they 
have any expectation of becoming heirs to their cattle. Our 
Bakwain guide to the lake, Rachosi, told me that his mother 
lived in the country of Sebituane, but, though a good specimen 
of the Bechuanas, he laughed at the idea of going so far as from 
the Lake Ngami to the Chobe merely for the purpose of seeing 
her. Had he been one of the Makalaka, he never would have 
parted from her. 

We made our beds on one of the islands, and were wretchedly 
supplied with fircAvood. The booths constructed by the men were 
but sorry shelter, for the rain poured down without intermission 
till midday. There is no drainage for the prodigious masses of 
water on these plains, except slow percolation into the different 
feeders of the Leeba, and into that river itself. The quantity of 



334 GEASS OF THE PLAINS. 

vegetation has prevented the countiy from Ibecoming furrowed by 
many rivulets or "nullahs." Were it not so remarkably flat, the 
drainage must have been effected by torrents, even in spite of the 
matted vegetation. 

That these extensive plains are covered with grasses only, and 
the little islands with but scraggy trees, may be accounted for 
by the fact, observable every where in this country, that, where 
water stands for any length of time, trees can not live. The 
want of speedy drainage destroys them, and injures the growth 
of those that are planted on the islands, for they have no depth 
of earth not subjected to the souring influence of the stagnant 
water. The plains of Lobale, to the west of these, are said to 
be much more extensive than any we saw, and their vegetation 
possesses similar peculiarities. When the stagnant rain-water 
has all soaked in, as must happen during the months in which 
there is no rain, travelers are even put to straits for want of 
water. This is stated on native testimony ; but I can very well 
believe that level plains, in which neither wells nor gullies are 
met with, may, after the dry season, present the opposite extreme 
to what we witnessed. Water, however, could always be got by 
digging, a proof of which we had on our return when brought 
to a stand on this very plain by severe fever: about twelve 
miles from the Kasai my men dug down a few feet, and found an 
abundant supply ; and we saw on one of the islands the garden 
of a man who, in the dry season, had drunk water from a well 
in like manner. Plains like these can not be inhabited while 
the present system of cultivation lasts. The population is not 
yet so very large as to need them. They find garden-ground 
enough on the gentle slopes at the sides of the rivulets, and 
possess no cattle to eat off the millions of acres of fine hay we 
were now wading through. Any one who has visited the Cape 
Colony will understand me when I say that these immense crops 
resemble sown grasses more than the tufty vegetation of the 
south. 

I would here request the particular attention of the reader to 
the phenomena these periodically deluged plains present, be- 
cause they have a most important bearing on the physical geog- 
raphy of a very large portion of this country. The plains of 
Lobale, to the west of this, give rise to a great many streams, 



LOAN OF EOOFS.— A HALT. 335 

wliicli unite, and form the deep, never-failing Chobe. Similar ex- 
tensive flats give birtli to the Loeti and Kasai, and, as we shall 
see further on, all the rivers of an extensive region owe their origin 
to oozing bogs, and not to fountains. 

When released from our island by the rain ceasing, we march- 
ed on till we came to a ridge of dry inliabited land in the N.W. 
The inhabitants, according to custom, lent us the roofs of some 
huts to save the men the trouble of booth-making. I suspect 
that the story in Park's " Travels," of the men lifting up the 
hut to place it on the lion, referred to the roof only. We leave 
them for the villagers to replace at their leisure. No payment 
is expected for the use of them. By night it rained so copious- 
ly that all our beds were flooded from below ; and from this 
time forth we always made a furrow round each booth, and used 
the earth to raise our sleeping-places. My men turned out to 
work in the wet most willingly ; indeed, they always did. I 
could not but contrast their conduct with that of Intemese. He 
was thoroughly imbued with the slave spirit, and lied on all 
occasions without compunction. Untruthfulness is a sort of 
refuge for the weak and oppressed. We expected to move on 
the 4th, but he declared that we were so near Katema's, if we 
did not send forward to apprise that chief of our approach, he 
would certainly impose a fine. It rained the whole day, so we 
were reconciled to the delay ; but on Sunday, the 5th, he let us 
know that we were still two days distant from Katema. We 
unfortunately could not manage without him, for the country 
was so deluged, we should have been brought to a halt before 
we went many miles by some deep valley, every one of which 
was full of water. Intemese continued to plait his basket with 
all his might, and would not come to our religious service. He 
seemed to be afraid of our incantations, but was always merry 
and jocular. 

Gt/i. Soon after starting we crossed a branch of the Lokalueje 
by means of a canoe, and in the afternoon passed over the main 
stream by a like conveyance. The former, as is the case with all 
branches of rivers in this country, is called nuana Kalueje (child 
of the Kalueje). Hippopotami exist in the Lokalueje, so it may 
be inferred to be perennial, as the inhabitants asserted. We can 
not judge of the size of the stream from what we now saw. It 



336 FEKTILE COUNTEY.— OMNIVOROUS FISH. 

had about forty yards of deep, fast-flowing water, "but probably 
not more than half that amount in the dry season. Besides these, 
we crossed numerous feeders in our N.N.W. course, and, there 
being no canoes, got frequently wet in the course of the day. 
The oxen in some places had their heads only above water, and 
the stream, flowing over their backs, wetted our blankets, which 
we used as saddles. The arm-pit was the only safe spot for car- 
rying the watch, for there it was preserved from rains above and 
waters below. The men on foot crossed these gullies holding up 
their burdens at arms' length. 

The Lokalueje winds from northeast to southwest into the 
Leeba. The country adjacent to its banks is extremely fine and 
fertile, with here and there patches of forest or clumps of magnifi- 
cent trees. The villagers through whose gardens we passed con- 
tinue to sow and reap all the year round. The grains, as maize, 
lotsa {Pennisetum typhouleum), lokesh or millet, are to be seen 
at all stages of their growth — some just ripe, while at this time 
the Makololo crops are not half grown. My companions, who 
have a good idea of the diflerent qualities of soils, expressed the 
greatest admiration of the agricultural capabilities of the whole 
of Londa, and here they were loud in their praises of the pastur- 
age. They have an accurate idea of the varieties of grasses best 
adapted for different kinds of stock, and lament because here there 
are no cows to feed ofi" the rich green crop, which at this time im- 
parts special beauty to the landscape. 

Great numbers of the omnivorous feeding fish, Giants sihiris, 
or mosala, spread themselves over the flooded plains, and, as the 
waters retire, try to find their way back again to the rivers. 
The Balonda make earthen dikes and hedges across the outlets 
of the retreating waters, leaving only small spaces through 
which the chief part of the water flows. In these open spaces 
they plant creels, similar in shape to our own, into which the 
fish can enter, but can not return. They secure large quantities 
of fish in this way, which, when smoke-dried, make a good relish 
for their otherwise insipid food. They use also a weir of mats 
made of reeds sewed together, with but half an inch between 
each. Open spaces are left for the insertion of the creels as 
before. 

In still water, a fish-trap is employed of the same shape a^d 



THE GUIDE'S PERVERSITY. 337 

plan as the common round wire mouse-trap, which has an open- 
ing surrounded with wires pointing inward. This is made of 
reeds and supple wands, and food is placed inside to attract the 
iish. 

Besides these means of catching fish, they use a hook of iron 
without a barb ; the point is bent inward instead, so as not to 
allow the fish to escape. Nets are not so common as in the 
Zouga and Leeambye, but they kill large quantities of fishes by 
means of the bruised leaves of a shrub, which may be seen. 
planted beside every village in the country. 

On the 7th we came to the village of Soana Molopo, a half- 
brother of Katema, a few miles beyond the Lokalueje. When 
we went to visit him, we found him sitting with about one hund- 
red men. He called on Intemese to give some account of us, 
though no doubt it had been done in private before. He then 
pronounced the following sentences : " The journey of the white 
man is very proper, but Shinte has disturbed us by showing the 
path to the Makololo who accompany him. He ought to have 
taken them through the country without showing them the 
towns. We are afraid of the Makololo." He then gave us a 
handsome present of food, and seemed perplexed by my sitting 
down familiarly, and giving him a few of our ideas. When we 
left, Intemese continued busily imparting an account of all we 
had given to Shinte and Masiko, and instilling the hope that 
Soana Molopo might obtain as much as they had received. Ac- 
cordingly, when we expected to move on the morning of the 
8th, we got some hints about the ox which Soana Molopo ex- 
pected to eat, but we recommended him to get the breed of 
cattle for himself, seeing his country was so well adapted for 
rearing stock. Intemese also refused to move; he, moreover, 
tried to frighten us into parting with an ox by saying that 
Soana Molopo would send forward a message that we were a 
marauding party ; but we packed up and went on without him. 
We did not absolutely need him, but he was useful in preventing 
the inhabitants of secluded villages from betaking themselves to 
flight. We wished to be on good terms with all, and therefore 
put up with our guide's peccadilloes. His good word respecting 
us had considerable influence, and he was always asked if we 
. had behaved ourselves like men on the way. The Makololo are- 

Y 



338 MOZINKWA AND HIS FAMILY. 

viewed as great savages, but Intemese could not justly look with 
scorn on them, for he has the mark of a large gash on his arm, 
got in fighting ; and he would never tell the cause of battle, but 
boasted of his powers as the Makololo do, till asked about a scar 
on his back, betokening any thing but bravery. 

Intemese was useful in cases like that of Monday, when we 
came upon a whole village in a forest enjoying their noonday nap. 
Our sudden appearance in their midst so terrified them that one 
woman nearly went into convulsions from fear. When they saw 
and heard Intemese, their terror subsided. 

As usual, we were caught by rains after leaving Soana Molo- 
po's, and made our booths at the house of Mozinkwa, a most in- 
telligent and friendly man belonging to Katema. He had a fine 
large garden in cultivation, and well hedged round. He had made 
the walls of his compound, or -court-yard, of branches of the ban- 
ian, which, taking root, had grown to be a live hedge of that tree. 
Mozinkwa's wife had cotton growing all round her premises, and 
several plants used as relishes to the insipid pomdge of the coun- 
try. She cultivated also the common castor-oil plant, and a larger 
shrub {Jatropha ciircas), which also yields a purgative oil. Here, 
however, the oil is used for anointing the heads and bodies alone. 
We saw in her garden likewise the Indian bringalls, yams, and 
sweet potatoes. Several trees were planted in the middle of the 
yard, and in the deep shade they gave stood the huts of his fine 
family. His children, all by one mother, very black, but come- 
ly to view, were the finest negro family I ever saw. We were 
much pleased with the frank friendship and liberality of this 
man and his wife. She asked me to bring her a cloth from 
the white man's country ; but, when we returned, poor Mozink- 
wa's wife was in her grave, and he, as is the custom, had aban- 
doned trees, garden, and huts to ruin. They can not live on a 
spot where a favorite wife has died, probably because unable to 
bear the remembrance of the happy times they have spent there, 
or afraid to remain in a spot where death has once visited the es- 
tablishment. If ever the place is revisited, it is to pray to her, or 
make some offering. This feeling renders any permanent village 
in the country impossible. 

We learned from Mozinkwa that Soana Molopo was the elder 
brother of Katema, but that he was wanting in wisdom ; and 



QUENDENDE'S POLITENESS. 339 

Katema, hj purchasing cattle and receiving in a kind manner all 
the fugitives who came to him, had secured the birthright to him- 
self, so far as influence in the country is concerned. Soana's first 
address to us did not savor much of African wisdom. 

Friday, V)th. On leaving Mozinkwa's hospitable mansion we 
crossed another stream, about forty yards wide, in canoes. While 
this tedious process was going on, I was informed that it is called 
the Mona-Kalueje, or brother of Kalueje, as it flows into that riv- 
er; that both the Kalueje and Livoa flow into the Leeba; and 
that the Chifumadze, swollen by the Lotembwa, is a feeder of that 
river also, below the point where we lately crossed it. It may be 
remarked here that these rivers were now in flood, and that the 
water was all perfectly clear. The vegetation on the banks is so 
thickly planted that the surface of the earth is not abraded by the 
torrents. The grass is laid flat, and forms a protection to the 
banks, which are generally a stiff black loam. The fact of ca- 
noes being upon them shows that, though not large, they are not 
like the southern rivulets, which dry up during most of the year, 
and render canoes unnecessary. 

As we were crossing the river we were joined by a messenger 
from Katema, called Shakatwala. This person was a sort of stew- 
ard or factotum to his chief. Every chief has one attached to 
his person, and, though generally poor, they are invariably men 
of great shrewdness and ability. They act the part of mes- 
sengers on all important occasions, and possess considerable au- 
thority in the chief's household. Shakatwala informed us that 
Katema had not received precise information about us, but if we 
were peaceably disposed, as he loved strangers, we were to come 
to his town. We proceeded forthwith, but were turned aside, \j 
the strategy of our friend Intemese, to the village of Quendende, 
the father-in-law of Katema. This fine old man was so very 
polite that we did not regret being obliged to spend Sunday at 
his village. He expressed his pleasure at having a share in the 
honor of a visit as well as Katema, though it seemed to me 
that the conferring that pleasure required something like a pretty 
good stock of impudence, in leading twenty-seven men through 
the country without the means of purchasing food. My men did 
a little business for themselves in the begging line ; they gen- 
erally commenced every interview with new villagers by saying 



340 CROP OF WOOL. 

" I have come from afar ; give me something to eat." I for- 
bade this at first, believing that, as the Makololo had a bad 
name, the villagers gave food from fear. But, after some time, 
it was evident that in many eases maize and manioc were given 
from pure generosity. The first time I came to this conclusion 
was at the house of Mozinkwa ; scarcely any one of my men 
returned from it without something in his hand ; and as they 
protested they had not begged, I asked himself, and found that 
it wasthe case, and that he had given spontaneously. In other 
parts the chiefs attended to my wants, and the common people 
gave liberally to my men. I presented some of my razors and 
iron spoons to different head men, but my men had nothing to 
give ; yet every one tried to appropriate an individual in each 
village as "Molekane," or comrade, and the villagers often 
assented; so, if the reader remembers the molekane system of 
the Mopato, he may perceive that those who presented food 
freely would expect the Makololo to treat them in like manner, 
should they ever be placed in similar circumstances. Their 
country is so fertile that they are in no want of food them- 
selves ; however, their generosity was remarkable ; only one 
woman refused to give some of my men food, but her husband 
calling out to her to be more liberal, she obeyed, scolding all 
the while. 

In this part of the country, buffaloes, elands, koodoos, and va- 
rious antelopes are to be found, but we did not get any, as they 
are exceedingly wary from being much hunted. We had the 
same woodland and meadow as before, with here and there pleas- 
ant negro villages ; and being all in good health, could enjoy the 
fine green scenery. 

Quendende's head was a good specimen of the greater crop of 
wool with which the negroes of Londa are furnished. The front 
was parted in the middle, and plaited into two thick rolls, which, 
falling down behind the ears, reached the shoulders; the rest 
was collected into a large knot, which lay on the nape of the 
neck. As he was an intelligent man, we had much conversation 
together : he had just come from attending the funeral of one of 
his people, and I found that the great amount of drum-beating 
which takes place on these occasions was with the idea that the 
Barimo, or spirits, could be drummed to sleep. There is a drum 



MATIAMVO'S CONDUCT. 341 

in every village, and we often hear it going from sunset to sun- 
rise. They seem to look upon the departed as vindictive beings, 
and, I suspect, are more influenced by fear than by love. In be- 
ginning to speak on religious subjects with those who have never 
heard of Christianity, the great fact of the Son of God having 
come down from heaven to die for us is the prominent theme. 
No fact more striking can be mentioned. " He actually came 
to men. He himself told us about his Father, and the dwelling- 
place whither he has gone. We have his words in this book, 
and he really endured punishment in our stead from pure love," 
etc. If this fails to interest them, nothing else will succeed. 

We here met with some people just arrived from the town of 
Matiamvo' (Muata yanvo), who had been sent to announce the 
death of the late chieftain of that name. Matiamvo is the he- 
reditary title, muata meaning lord or chief. The late Matiamvo 
seems, from the report of these men, to have become insane, for 
he is said to have sometimes indulged the whim of running a 
muck in the town and beheading whomsoever he met, until he had 
quite a heap of human heads. Matiamvo explained this conduct 
by saying that his people were too many, and he wanted to di- 
minish them. He had absolute power of life and death. On in- 
quiring whether human sacrifices were still made, as in the time 
of Pereira, at Cazembe's, we were informed that these had never 
been so common as was represented to Pereira, but that it occa- 
sionally happened, when certain charms were needed by the chief, 
that a man was slaughtered for the sake of some part of his 
body. He added that he hoped the present chief would not act 
like his (mad) predecessor, but kill only those who were guilty 
of witchcraft or theft. These men were very much astonished 
at the liberty enjoyed by the Makololo ; and when they found 
that all my people held cattle, we were told that Matiamvo alone 
had a herd. One very intelligent man among them asked, "If 
he should make a canoe, and take it down the river to the Mako- 
lolo, would he get a cow for it ?" This question, which my men 
answered in the affirmative, was important, as showing the knowl- 
edge of a water communication from the country of Matiamvo to 
the Makololo ; and the river runs through a fertile country 
abounding in large timber. If the tribes have intercourse with 
each other, it exerts a good influence on their chiefs to hear what 



342 SUPERSTITIOUS CUSTOMS. 

other tribes think of their deeds. The Makololo have such a Ibad 
name, on account of their perpetual forays, that they have not been 
known in Londa except as ruthless destroyers. The people in 
Matiamvo's country submit to much wrong from their chiefs, and 
no voice can be raised against cruelty, because they are afraid to 
flee elsewhere. 

We left Quendende's village in company with Quendende him- 
self, and the principal man of the embassadors of Matiamvo, and 
after two or three miles' march to the N.W., came to the ford of 
the Lotembwa, which flows southward. A canoe was waiting to 
ferry us over, but it was very tedious work ; for, though the river 
itself was only eighty yards wide, the whole valley was flooded, 
and we were obliged to paddle more than half a mile to get free 
of the water. A fire was lit to warm old Quendende, and enable 
him to dry his tobacco-leaves. The leaves are taken from the 
plant, and spread close to the fire until they are quite dry and 
crisp ; they are then put into a snuff-box, which, with a little pes- 
tle, serves the purpose of a mill to grind them into powder ; it is 
then used as snuff. As we sat by the fire, the embassadors com- 
municated their thoughts freely respecting the customs of their 
race. When a chief dies, a number of servants are slaughtered 
with him to form his company in the other world. The Barotse 
followed the same custom, and this and other usages show them 
to be genuine negroes, though neither they nor the Balonda resem- 
ble closely the typical form of that people. Quendende said if he 
were present on these occasions he would hide his people, so that 
they might not be slaughtered. As we go north, the people be- 
come more bloodily superstitious. 

We were assured that if the late Matiamvo took a fancy to 
any thing, such, for instance, as my watch-chain, which was of 
silver wire, and was a great curiosity, as they had never seen 
metal plaited before, he would order a whole village to be 
brought up to buy it from a stranger. When a slave-trader 
visited him, he took possession of all his goods ; then, after ten 
days or a fortnight, he would send out a party of men to pounce 
upon some considerable village, and, having killed the head man, 
would pay for all the goods by selling the inhabitants. This has 
frequently been the case, and nearly all the visitants he ever had 
were men of color. On asking if Matiamvo did not know he 



PRESENTATION TO KATEMA. 343 

was a man, and would be judged, in company with tliose he de- 
stroyed, by a Lord who is no respecter of persons ? the embassa- 
dor replied, " We do not go up to God, as you do ; we are put 

into the eround." I could not ascertain that even those who have 
o 

such a distinct perception of the continued existence of departed 
spirits had any notion of heaven ; they appear to imagine the 
souls to be always near the place of sepulture. 

After crossing the Eiver Lotembwa we traveled about eight 
miles, and came to Katema's straggling town (lat. 11° 35'' 49^^ S., 
long. 22° 2T E.). It is more a collection of villages than a town. 
We were led out about half a mile from the houses, that we might 
make for ourselves the best lodging we could of the trees and 
grass, while Intemese was taken to Katema to undergo the usual 
process of pumping as to our past conduct and professions. Ka- 
tema soon afterward sent a handsome present of food. 

Next morning we had a formal presentation, and found Katema 
seated on a sort of throne, with about three hundred men on the 
ground around, and thirty women, who were said to be his wives, 
close behind him. The main body of the people were seated in a 
semicircle, at a distance of fifty yards. Each party had its own 
head man stationed at a little distance in front, and, when beckoned 
by the chief, came near him as councilors. Intemese gave our his- 
tory, and Katema placed sixteen large baskets of meal before us, 
half a dozen fowls, and a dozen eggs, and expressed regret that 
Ave had slept hungry : he did not like any stranger to suffer want 
in his town ; and added, " Go home, and cook and eat, and you 
will then be in a fit state to speak to me at an audience I will 
give you to-morrow." He was busily engaged in hearing the 
statements of a large body of fine young men who had fled from 
Kangenke, chief of Lobale, on account of his selling their rela- 
tives to the native Portuguese who frequent his country. Kate- 
ma is a tall man, about forty years of age, and his head was or- 
namented with a helmet of beads and feathers. He had on a 
snuff-brown coat, with a broad band of tinsel down the arms, and 
carried in his hand a large tail made of the caudal extremities of 
a number of gnus. This has charms attached to it, and he con- 
tinued waving it in front of himself all the time we were there. 
He seemed in good spirits, laughing heartily several times. This 
is a good sign, for a man who shakes his sides with mirth is sel- 



344 INTERVIEW WITH KATEMA. 

dom difficult to deal with. When we rose to take leave, all rose 
with us, as at Shinte's. 

Eeturning next morning, Katema addressed me thus: "I am 
the great Moene (lord) Katema, the fellow of Matiamvo. There 
is no one in the country equal to Matiamvo and me. I have 
always lived here, and my forefathers too. There is the house 
in which my father lived. You found no human skulls near 
the place where you are encamped. I never killed any of the 
traders ; they all come to me. I am the great Moene Katema, 
of whom you have heard." He looked as if he had fallen asleep 
tipsy, and dreamed of his greatness. On explaining my ob- 
jects to him, he promptly pointed out three men who would 
be our guides, and explained that the northwest path was the 
most direct, and that by which all traders came, but that the 
water at present standing on the plains would reach up to the 
loins ; he would therefore send us by a more northerly route, 
which no trader had yet traversed. This was more suited to our 
wishes, for we never found a path safe that had been trodden by 
slave-traders. 

We presented a few articles, which pleased him highly: a 
small shawl, a razor, three bunches of beads, some buttons, and 
a powder-horn. Apologizing for the insignificance of the gift, 
I wished to know what I could bring him from Loanda, saying, 
not a large thing, but something small. He laughed heartily 
at the limitation, and replied, " Every thing of the white people 
would be acceptable, and he would receive any thing thankfully ; 
but the coat he then had on was old, and he would like an- 
other." I introduced the subject of the Bible, but one of 
the old councilors broke in, told all he had picked up from 
the Mambari, and glided off into several other subjects. It 
is a misery to speak through an interpreter, as I was now 
forced to do. With a body of men like mine, composed as 
they were of six different tribes, and all speaking the lan- 
guage of the Bechuanas, there was no difficulty in communi- 
cating on common subjects with any tribe we came to ; but 
doling out a story in which they felt no interest, and which I 
understood only sufficiently well to perceive that a mere abridg- 
ment was given, was uncommonly slow work. Neither could 
Katema's attention be arrested, except by compliments, of which 



CATTLE.— A FEAST. 347 

they have ahvays plenty to bestow as well as receive. We were 
strangers, and knew that, as Makololo, we had not the best of 
characters, yet his treatment of us was wonderfully good and 
liberal. 

I complimented liim on the possession of cattle, and pleased 
him by telling him how he might milk the cows. He has a herd 
of about thirty, really splendid animals, all reared from two which 
he bought from the Balobale when he was young. They are 
generally of a white color, and are quite wild, running off with 
graceful ease like a herd of elands on the approach of a stranger. 
They excited the unbounded admiration of the Makololo, and 
clearly proved that the country was well adapted for them. 
When Katema wishes to slaughter one, he is obliged to shoot 
it as if it were a buffalo. Matiamvo is said to possess a herd of 
cattle in a similar state. I never could feel certain as to the 
reason why they do not all possess cattle in a country containing 
such splendid pasturage. 

As Katema did not offer an ox, as would have been done by 
a Makololo or Caffre chief, we slaughtered one of our own, and 
all of us were delighted to get a meal of meat, after subsisting 
so long on the light porridge and green maize of Londa. On 
occasions of slaughtering an animal, some pieces of it are in the 
lire before the skin is all removed from the body. A frying-pan 
full of these pieces having been got quickly ready, my men 
crowded about their father, and I handed some all round. It 
was a strange sight to the Balonda, who were looking on, won- 
dering. I offered portions to them too, but these were declined, 
though they are excessively fond of a little animal food to eat 
with their vegetable diet. They would not eat with us, but 
they would take the meat and cook it in their own way, and 
then use it. I thought at one time that they had imported 
something from the Mohammedans, and the more especially as an 
exclamation of surprise, "Allah," sounds like the Illah of the 
Arabs ; but we found, a little farther on, another form of saluta- 
'tion, of Christian (?) origin, " Ave-rie" (Ave Marie). The saluta- 
tions probably travel farther than the faith. My people, when 
satisfied with a meal like that which they enjoy so often at 
liome, amused themselves by an uproarious dance. Katema 
sent to ask what I had given them to produce so much excite- 



348 ^ DIGNIFIED ANCIENT. 

ment. Intemese replied it was their custom, and they meant 
no harm. The companion of the ox we slaughtered refused 
food for two days, and went lowing about for him continually. 
He seemed inconsolable for his loss, and tried again and again 
to escape back to the Makololo country. My men remarked, 
" He thinks they will kill me as well as my friend." Katema 
thought it the result of art, and had fears of my skill in medi- 
cine, and of course witchcraft. He refused to see the magic 
lantern. 

One of the affairs which had been intrusted by Shinte to 
Intemese was the rescue of a wife who had eloped with a young 
man belonging to Katema. As this was the only case I have 
met with in the interior in which a fugitive was sent back to a 
chief against his own will, I am anxious to mention it. On 
Intemese claiming her as his master's wife, she protested loudly 
against it, saying " she knew she was not going back to be a 
wife again ; she was going back to be sold to the Mambari." 
My men formed many friendships with the people of Katema, 
and some of the poorer classes said in confidence, "We wish our 
children could go back with you to the Makololo country ; here 
we are all in danger of being sold." My men were of opinion 
that it was only the want of knowledge of the southern country 
which prevented an exodus of all the lower poi'tions of Londa 
population thither. 

It is remarkable how little people living in a flat forest 
country like this know of distant tribes. An old man, who said 
he had been born about the same time as the late Matiamvo, 
and had been his constant companion through life, visited us ; 
and as I was sitting on some grass in front of the little gipsy 
tent mending my camp stool, I invited him to take a seat on 
the grass beside me. This was peremptorily refused: "he had 
never sat on the ground during the late chiefs reign, and he 
was not going to degrade himself now." One of my men handed 
him a log of wood taken from the fire, and helped him out of 
the difficulty. When I offered him some cooked meat on a 
plate, he would not touch that either, but would take it home. 
So I humored him by sending a servant to bear a few ounces 
of meat to the town behind him. He mentioned the L616 
(Lulua) as the branch of the Leeambye which flows southward 



LAX GOVERNJMENT. 349 

or S. S.E. ; but the people of Matiaravo had never gone far down 
it, as their chief had always been afraid of encountering a tribe 
whom, from the description given, I could recognize as the Ma- 
kololo. He described live rivers as falling into the Lolo, viz., 
the Lishish, Liss or Lise, Kalileme, Ishidish, and Molong. None 
of these are large, but when they are united in the Lolo they 
form a considerable stream. The country through which the 
Lolo flows is said to be flat, fertile, well peopled, and there are 
large patches of forest. In this report he agreed perfectly with 
the people of Matiamvo, whom we had met at Quendende's vil- 
lage. But we never could get him, or any one in this quarter, 
to draw a map on the ground, as people may readily be got to do 
in the south. 

Katema promised us the aid of some of his people as carriers, 
but his rule is not very stringent or efficient, for they refused to 
turn out for the work. They were Balobale ; and he remarked 
on their disobedience that, though he received them as fugitives, 
they did not feel grateful enough to obey, and if they continued 
rebellious he must drive them back whence they came ; but there 
is little fear of that, as all the chiefs are excessively anxious to 
collect men in great numbers around them. These Balobale 
would not go, though our guide Shakatwala ran after some of 
them with a drawn sword. This degree of liberty to rebel was 
very striking to us, as it occurred in a country where people 
may be sold, and often are so disposed of when guilty of any 
crime ; and we well knew that open disobedience like this among 
the Makololo would be punished with death without much cere- 
mony. 

On Sunday, the 19th, both I and several of our party were 
seized with fever, and I could do nothing but toss about in my 
little tent, with the thermometer above 90°, though this was the 
beginning of winter, and my men made as much shade as pos- 
sible by planting branches of trees all round and over it. We 
have, for the first time in my experience in Africa, had a cold 
wind from the north. All the winds from that quarter are hot, 
and those from the south are cold, but they seldom blow from 
either direction. 

20th. We were glad to get away, though not on account of 
any scarcity of food ; for my men, by giving small presents of 



350 SINGING-BIEDS. 

meat as an earnest of their sincerity, formed many friendsliips 
with the people of Katema. • We went about four or five miles 
in a N.N.W. direction, then two in a westerly one, and came 
round the small end of Lake Dilolo. It seemed, as far as we 
could at this time discern, to be like a river a quarter of a mile 
wide. It is abundantly supplied with fish and hippopotami ; the 
broad part, which we did not this time see, is about three miles 
wide, and the lake is almost seven or eight long. If it be thought 
strange that I did not go a few miles to see the broad part, 
which, according to Katema, had never been visited by any of 
the traders, it must be remembered that in consequence of fever 
I had eaten nothing for two entire days, and, instead of sleep, 
the whole of the nights were employed in incessant drinking of 
water, and I was now so glad to get on in the journey and see 
some of my fellow fever-patients crawling along, that I could not 
brook the delay, which astronomical observations for accurately 
determining the geographical position of this most interesting spot 
would have occasioned. 

We observed among the people of Katema a love for singing- 
birds. One pretty little songster, named " cabazo," a species of 
canary, is kept in very neatly made cages, having traps on the 
top to entice its still free companions. On asking why they kept 
them in confinement, "Because they sing sweetly," was the an- 
swer. They feed them on the lotsa {Pemiisetum tyjpholdeuTn)^ 
of which great quantities are cultivated as food for man, and these 
canaries plague the gardeners here, very much in the same way 
as our sparrows do at home. 

I was pleased to hear the long-forgotten cry of alarm of the 
canaries in the woods, and observed one warbling forth its song, 
and keeping in motion from side to side, as these birds do in the 
cage. We saw also tame pigeons ; and the Barotse, who always 
take care to exalt Santuru, reminded us that this chief had many 
doves, and kept canaries which had reddish heads when the bird» 
attained maturity. Those we now see have the real canary color 
on the breast, with a tinge of green ; the back, yellowish green, 
with darker longitudinal bands meeting in the centre; a narrow 
dark band passes from the bill over the eye and back to the bill 
again. 

The birds of song here set up quite a merry chorus in the 



SPIDERS. 351 

mornings, and abound most near the villages. Some sing as 
loudly as our thrushes, and the king-hunter {^Halcyon Senegal- 
ensis) makes a clear whirring sound like that of a whistle with a 
pea in it. During the lieat of the day all remain silent, and 
take their siesta in the shadiest parts of the trees, but in the 
cool of the evening they again exert themselves in the produc- 
tion of pleasant melody. It is remarkable that so many song- 
birds abound where there is a general paucity of other animal 
life. As we went forward we were struck by the comparative 
absence of game and the larger kind of fowls. The rivers con- 
tain very few fish. Common flies are not troublesome, as they 
are wherever milk is abundant ; they are seen in company with 
others of the same size and shape, but whose tiny feet do not 
tickle the skin, as is the case with their companions. Musquitoes 
are seldom so numerous as to disturb the slumbers of a weary 
man. 

But, though this region is free from common insect plagues, 
and from tsetse, it has others. Feeling something running 
across my forehead as I was falling asleep, I put up the hand to 
wipe it otf, and was sharply stung both on the hand and head ; 
the pain was very acute. On obtaining a light, we found that it 
had been inflicted by a light-colored spider, about half an inch 
in length, and, one of the men having crushed it with his fingers, 
I had no opportunity of examining whether the pain had been 
produced by poison from a sting or from its mandibles. No 
remedy was applied, and the pain ceased in about two hours. 
The Bechuanas believe that there is a small black spider in the 
country whose bite is fatal. I have not met with an instance in 
which death could be traced to this insect, though a very large 
black, hairy spider, an inch and a quarter long and three quarters 
of an inch broad, is frequently seen, having a process at the end 
of its front claws similar to that at the end of the scorpion's tail, 
and when the bulbous portion of it is pressed, the poison may be 
seen oozing out from the point. 

We have also spiders in the south which seize their prey by 
leaping upon it from a distance of several inches. When alarmed, 
they can spring about a foot away from the object of their own 
fear. Of this kind there are several varieties. 

A large reddish spider {Mygale) obtains its food in a different 



352 SPIDERS. 

manner than either patiently waiting in ambush or by catching 
it with a bound. It runs about with great velocity in and out, 
behind and around every object, searching for what it may de- 
vour, and, from its size and rapid motions, excites the horror of 
every stranger. I never knew it to do any harm except frighten- 
ing the nervous, and I believe few could look upon it for the first 
time without feeling himself in danger. It is named by the na- 
tives " selali," and is believed to be the maker of a hinged cover 
for its nest. You see a door, about the size of a shilling, lying 
beside a deep hole of nearly similar diameter. The inside of the 
door lying upward, and which attracts your notice, is of a pure 
white silky substance, like paper. The outer side is coated over 
with earth, precisely like that in which the hole is made. If you 
try to lift it, you find it is fastened by a hinge on one side, and, 
if it is turned over upon the hole, it fits it exactly, and the earthy 
side being then uppermost, it is quite impossible to detect the 
situation of the nest. Unfortunately, this cavity for breeding is 
never seen except when the owner is out, and has left the door 
open behind her. 

In some parts of the country there are great numbers of a large, 
beautiful yellow-spotted spider, the webs of which are about a 
yard in diameter. The lines on which these webs are spun are 
suspended from one tree to another, and are as thick as coarse 
thread. The fibres radiate from a central point, where the insect 
waits for its prey. The webs are placed perpendicularly, and a 
common occurrence in walking is to get the face enveloped in them 
as a lady is in a veil. 

Another kind of spider lives in society, and forms so great a 
collection of webs placed at every angle, that the trunk of a tree 
surrounded by them can not be seen. A piece of hedge is often 
so hidden by this spider that the branches are invisible. An- 
other is seen on the inside of the walls of huts among the Mako- 
lolo in great abundance. It is round in shape, spotted, brown in 
color, and the body half an inch in diameter ; the spread of the 
legs is an inch and a half. It makes a smooth spot for itself on 
the wall, covered with the above-mentioned white silky substance. 
There it is seen standing the whole day, and I never could ascer- 
tain how it fed. It has no web, but a carpet, and is a harmless, 
though an ugly neighbor. 



TEADITION OF LAKE DILOLO. 353 

immediately beyond Dilolo there is a large flat about twenty 
miles in breadth. Here Shakatwala insisted on our remaining 
to get supplies of food from Katema's subjects, before entering the 
uninhabited watery plains. When asked the meaning of the name 
Dilolo, Shakatwala gave the following account of the formation of 
the lake. A female chief, called Moene (lord) Monenga, came one 
evening to the village of Mosogo, a man who lived in the vicinity, 
but who had gone to hunt with his dogs. She asked for a suppl} 
of food, and Mosogo's wife gave her a sufficient quantity. Pro- 
ceeding to another village standing on the spot now occupied by 
the water, she preferred the same demand, and was not only re- 
fused, but, when she uttered a threat for their niggardliness, was 
taunted with the question, " What could she do though she were 
thus treated ?" In order to show what she could do, she began a 
song, in slow time, and uttered her own name, Monenga-woo. As 
she prolonged the last note, the village, people, fowls, and dogs 
sank into the space now called Dilolo. When Kasimakate, the 
head man of this village, came home and found out the catastro- 
phe, he cast himself into the lake, and is supposed to be in it still. 
The name is derived from "ilolo," despair, because this man gave 
up all hope when his family was destroyed. Monenga was put to 
death. This may be a faint tradition of the Deluge, and it is re- 
markable as the only one I have met with in this country. 

Heavy rains prevented us from crossing the plain in from 
(N.N.W.) in one day, and the constant wading among the grass 
hurt the feet of the men. There is a footpath all the way across, 
but as this is worn down beneath the level of the rest of the plain, 
it is necessarily the deepest portion, and the men, avoiding it, 
make a new walk by its side. A path, however narrow, is a great 
convenience, as any one who has traveled on foot in Africa will 
admit. The virtual want of it here caused us to make slow and 
painful progress. 

Ants surely are wiser than some men, for they learn by experi- 
ence. They have established themselves even on these plains, 
where water stands so long annually as to allow the lotus, and 
other aqueous plants, to come to maturity. When all the ant 
horizon is submerged a foot deep, they manage to exist by as- 
cending to little houses built of black tenacious loam on stalks 
of grass, and placed higher than the line of inundation. This 

Z 



354 SAGACITY OE ANTS. 

must have been the result of experience ; for, if they had waited 
till the water actually invaded their terrestrial habitations, they 
would not have been able to procure materials for their aerial 
quarters, unless they dived down to the bottom for every mouthful 
of clay. Some of these upper chambers are about the size of a 
bean, and others as large as a man's thumb. They must have 
built in anticipation, and if so, let us humbly hope that the suiFer- 
ers by the late inundations in France may be possessed of as much 
common sense as the little black ants of the Dilolo plains. 



DEEP VALLEY. 355 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Watershed between the northern and southern Rivers. — A deep Valley.— 
Rustic Bridge. — Fountains on the Slopes of the Valleys. — Village of Ka- 
binje.— Good Effects of the Belief in the Power of Charms.— Demand for Gun- 
powder and English Calico.— The Kasai.— Vexatious Trick.— Want of Food.— 
No Game.— Katende's unreasonable Demand. — A grave Offense. — Toll-bridge 
Keeper. — Greedy Guides. — Flooded Valleys. — Swim the Nuana Loke. — 
Prompt Kindness of my Men. — Makololo Remarks on the rich uncultivated 
Valleys. — Difference in the Color of Africans. — Reach a Village of the Chi- 
boque.— The Head Man's impudent Message. — Surrounds our Encampment with 
his Warriors. — The Pretense. — Their Demand. — Prospect of a Fight. — Way in 
which it was averted. — Change our Path. — Summer. — Fever. — Beehives and the 
Honey-guide. — Instinct of Trees. — Climbers. — The Ox Siubad. — Absence of 
Thorns in the Forests. — Plant peculiar to a forsaken Garden. — ^Bad Guides. — 
Insubordination suppressed. — Beset by Enemies. — A Robber Party. — More 
Troubles. — Detained by longa Panza. — His Village. — Annoyed by Bangala 
Traders. — My Men discouraged. — Their Determination and Precaution. 

24:th of February. On reaching unflooded lands beyond the 
plain, we found the villages there acknowledged the authority of 
the chief named Katende, and we discovered, also, to our surprise, 
that the almost level plain we had passed forms the watershed be- 
tween the southern and northern rivers, for we had now entered a 
district in which the rivers flowed in a northerly direction into the 
Kasai or Loke, near to which we now were, while the rivers we 
had hitherto crossed were all running southward. Having met 
with kind treatment and aid at the first village, Katema's guides 
returned, and we were led to the N.N.W. by the inhabitants, and 
descended into the very first really deep valley we had seen since 
leaving Kolobeng. A stream ran along the bottom of a slope of 
three or four hundred yards from the plains above. 

We crossed this by a rustic bridge at present submerged 
thigh-deep by the rains. The trees growing along the stream of 
this lovely valley were thickly planted and very high. Many 
had sixty or eighty feet of clean straight trunk, and beautiful 
flowers adorned the ground beneath them. Ascending the oppo- 
site side, we came, in two hours' time, to another valley, equally 



S56 FOUNTAINS.— VILLAGE OF KABINJE. 

beautiful, and with a stream also in its centre. It may seem 
mere trifling to note such an unimportant thing as the occur- 
rence of a valley, there being so many in every country under the 
sun ; but as these were branches of that in which the Kasai or 
Loke flows, and both that river and its feeders derive their water 
in a singular manner from the valley sides, I may be excused for 
calling particular attention to the more furrowed nature of the 
country. 

At different points on the slopes of these valleys which we now 
for the first time entered, there are oozing fountains, surrounded 
by clumps of the same evergreen, straight, large-leaved trees 
we have noticed along the streams. These spots are generally 
covered with a mat of grassy vegetation, and possess more the 
character of bogs than of fountains. They slowly discharge into 
the stream below, and are so numerous along both banks as to 
give a peculiar character to the landscape. These groups of syl- 
van vegetation are generally of a rounded form, and the trunks of 
the trees are tall and straight, while those on the level plains above 
are low and scraggy in their growth. There can be little doubt 
but that the water, which stands for months on the plains, soaks 
in, and finds its way into the rivers and rivulets by percolating 
through the soil, and out by these oozing bogs ; and the difference 
between the growth of these trees, though they be of different 
species, may be a proof that the stuntedness of those on the plains 
is owing to being, in the course of each year, more subjected to 
drought than moisture. 

Reaching the village of Kabinje, in the evening he sent us a 
present of tobacco, Mutokuane or "bang" {Cannabis sativa), and 
maize, by the man who went forward to announce our arrival, 
and a message expressing satisfaction at the prospect of having 
trade with the coast. The westing we were making brought us 
among people who are frequently visited by the Mambari as 
slave - dealers. This trade causes bloodshed ; for when a poor 
family is selected as the victims, it is necessary to get rid of the 
older members of it, because they are supposed to be able to 
give annoyance to the chief afterward by means of enchant* 
ments. The belief in the power of charms for good or evil pro- 
duces not only honesty, but a great amount of gentle dealing. 
The powerful are often restrained in their despotism from a fear 



DEMAND FOR GUNPOWDER AND CALICO. 357 

that the weak and helpless may injure them by their medical 
knowledge. They have many fears. A man at one of the 
villages we came to showed us the grave of his child, and, 
with much apparent feeling, told us she had Ibeen burned to 
death in her hut. He had come with all his family, and built 
huts around it in order to weep for her. He thought, if the 
frrave were left unwatched, the witches would come and bewitch 
them by putting medicines on the body. They have a more de- 
cided belief in the continued existence of departed spirits than 
any of the more southerly tribes. Even the Barotse possess it in 
a strong degree, for one of my men of that tribe, on experiencing 
headache, said, with a sad and thoughtful countenance, " My fa- 
ther is scolding me because I do not give him any of the food I 
eat." I asked where his father was. " Among the Barimo," was 
the reply. 

When we wished to move on, Kabinje refused a guide to the 
next village because he was at war with it ; but, after much 
persuasion, he consented, provided that the guide should be al- 
lowed to return as soon as he came in sight of the enemy's vil- 
lage. This we felt to be a misfortune, as the people all suspect 
a man who comes telling his own tale ; but there being no help 
for it, we went on, and found the head man of a village on the riv- 
ulet Kalomba, called Kangenke, a very different man from what 
his enemy represented. We found, too, that the idea of buying 
and selling took the place of giving for friendship. As I had 
nothing with which to purchase food except a parcel of beads 
which were preserved for worse times, I began to fear that we 
should soon be compelled to suffer more from hunger than we had 
done. The people demanded gunpowder for every thing. If we 
had possessed any quantity of that article, We should have got on 
well, for here it is of great value. On our return, near this spot 
we found a good-sized fowl was sold for a aingle charge of gun- 
powder. Next to that, English calico was in great demand, and 
so were beads ; but money was of no value whatever. Gold is 
quite unknown ; it is thought to be brass ; trade is carried on by 
barter alone. The people know nothing of money. A purse- 
proud person would here feel the ground move from beneath his 
feet. Occasionally a large piece of copper, in the shape of a St. 
Andrew's cross, is offered for sale. 



358 VEXATIOUS TEICK. 

February 21th. Kangeiike promptly furnished guides this 
morning, so we went briskly on a short distance, and came to a 
part of the Kasye, Kasai, or Loke, where he had appointed two 
canoes to convey us across. This is a most beautiful river, and 
very much like the Clyde in Scotland. The slope of the valley 
down to the stream is about five hundred yards, and finely wood- 
ed. It is, perhaps, one hundred yards broad, and was winding 
slowly from side to side in the beautiful green glen, in a course to 
the north and northeast. In both the directions from which it 
came and to which it went it seemed to be alternately embower- 
ed in sylvan vegetation, or rich meadows covered with tall 
grass. The men pointed out its course, and said, " Though you 
sail along it for months, you will turn without seeing the end of 
it." 

While at the ford of the Kasai we were subjected to a trick, 
of which we had been forewarned by the people of Shinte. A 
knife had been dropped by one of Kangenke's people in order 
to entrap my men ; it was put down near our encampment, as 
if lost, the owner in the mean time watching till one of my 
men picked it up. Nothing was said until our party was 
divided, one half on this, and the other on that bank of the 
river. Then the charge was made to me that one of my men 
had stolen a knife. Certain of my people's honesty, I desired 
the man, who was making a great noise, to search the luggage 
for it; the unlucky lad who had taken the bait then came 
forward and confessed that he had the knife in a basket, which 
was already taken over the river. When it was returned, the 
owner would not receive it back unless accompanied with a fine. 
The lad offered beads, but these were refused with scorn. A 
shell hanging round his neck, similar ta that which Shinte had 
given me, was the object demanded, and the victim of the trick, 
as we all knew it to be, was obliged to part with his costly or- 
nament. I could not save him from the loss, as all had been fore- 
warned ; and it is the universal custom among the Makololo 
and many other tribes to show whatever they may find to the 
chief person of their company, and make a sort of offer of it to 
him. This lad ought to have done so to me ; the rest of the 
party always observed this custom. I felt annoyed at the impo- 
sition, but the order we invariably followed in crossing a river 



• WANT OF FOOD. 361 

forced me to submit. The bead of the party remained to be fer- 
ried over last ; so, if I had not come to terms, I would have been, 
as I always was in crossing rivers which we could not swim, com- 
pletely in the power of the enemy. It was but rarely we could 
get a head man so witless as to cross a river with us, and remam 
on the opposite bank in a convenient position to be seized as a 
hostage in case of my being caught. 

This trick is but one of a number equally dishonorable which 
are practiced by tribes that lie adjacent to the more civilized set- 
tlements. The Balonda farther east told us, by way oi warmng, 
that many parties of the more central tribes had at various periods 
set out, in order to trade with the white men themselves, instead 
of through the Mambari, but had always been obliged to return 
without reaching their destination, in consequence of so many pre- 
texts being invented by the tribes encountered in the way for 
fining them of their ivory. 

This ford was in 11° 15^ 47^^ S. latitude, but the weather was 
so excessively cloudy we got no observation for longitude. 

We were now in want of food, for, to the great surprise of my 
companions, the people of Kangenke gave nothing except^ by 
way of sale, and charged the most exorbitant prices for the little 
meal and manioc they brought. The only article of barter my 
men had was a little fat saved from the ox we slaughtered at 
Katema's, so I was obliged to give them a portion of the stock 
of beads. One day (29th) of westing brought us from the Kasai 
to near the village of Katende, and we saw that we were in a 
land where no hope could be entertained of getting supplies of 
animal food, for one of our guides caught a light-blue colored 
mole and two mice for his supper. The care with which he 
wrapped them up in a leaf and slung them on his spear told that 
we could not hope to enjoy any larger game. We saw no evi- 
dence of any animals besides ; and, on coming to the villages 
beyond this, we often saw boys and girls engaged in digging up 
these tiny quadrupeds. 

Katende sent for me on the day following our arrival, and, 
being quite willing to visit him, I walked, for this purpose, 
about three miles from our encampment. When we approached 
the village we were desired to enter a hut, and, as it was raining 
at the time, we did so. After a long time spent in giving and 



362 ^ GRAVE OFEENSE. 

receiving messages from the great man, we were told that he 
wanted either a man, a tusk, beads, copper rings, or a shell, as 
payment for leave to pags through his country. No one, we 
were assured, was allowed that liberty, or even to behold him, 
without something of the sort being presented. Having humbly 
explained our circumstances, and that he could not expect to 
"catch a humble cow by the horns" — a proverb similar to ours 
that "you can't draw milk out of a stone" — we were told to go 
home, and he would speak again to us next day. I could not 
avoid a hearty laugh at the cool impudence of the savage, and 
made the best of my way home in the still pouring rain. My 
men were rather nettled at this want of hospitality, but, after 
talking over the matter with one of Katende's servants, he pro- 
posed that some small article should be given, and an attempt 
made to please Katende. I turned out my shirts, and selected 
the worst one as a sop for him, and invited Katende to come and 
choose any thing else I had, but added that, when I should reach 
my own chief naked, and was asked what I had done with my 
clothes, I should be obliged to confess that I had left them with 
Katende. The shirt was dispatched to him, and some of my 
people went along with the servant ; they soon returned, saying 
that the shirt had been accepted, and guides and food too would 
be sent to us next day. The chief had, moreover, expressed a 
hope to see me on my return. He is reported to be very cor- 
pulent. The traders who have come here seem to have been 
very timid, yielding to every demand made on the most frivolous 
pretenses. One of my men, seeing another much like an ac- 
quaintance at home, addressed him by the name of the latter in 
sport, telling him, at the same time, why he did so ; this was 
pronounced to be a grave oifense, and a large fine demanded ; 
when .the case came before me I could see no harm in what had 
been done, and told my people not to answer the young fellow. 
The latter felt himself disarmed, for it is chiefly in a brawl they 
have power; then words are spoken in anger which rouse the 
passions of the complainant's friends. In this case, after vocif- 
erating some time, the would-be offended party came and said 
to my man that, if they exchanged some small gift, all would be 
right, but, my man taking no notice of him, he went off rather 
crestfallen. 



GREEDY GUIDES. 363 

My men were as much astonished as myself at the demand for 
payment for leave to pass, and the almost enth'e neglect of the 
rales of hospitality. Katende gave us only a little meal and ma- 
nioc, and a fowl. Being detained two days by heavy rains, we felt 
that a good stock of patience was necessary in traveling through 
this country in the rainy season. 

Passing onward without seeing Katende, we crossed a small 
rivulet, the Sengko, by which we had encamped, and after two 
hours came to another, the Totelo, which was somewhat larger, 
and had a bridge over it. At the farther end of this structure 
stood a negro, who demanded fees. He said the bridge was his : 
the path his ; the guides were his children ; and if we did not 
pay him he would prevent farther progress. This piece of civil- 
ization I was not prepared to meet, and stood a few seconds look- 
ing at our bold toll-keeper, when one of my men took off three 
copper bracelets, which paid for the whole party. The negro 
was a better man than he at first seemed, for he immediately 
went to his garden and brought us some leaves of tobacco as 
a present. 

When we had got fairly away from the villages, the guides from 
Kangenke sat down and told us that there were three paths in 
front, and, if we did not at once present them with a cloth, they 
would leave us to take whichever we might like best. As I 
had pointed out the direction in which Loanda lay, and had only 
employed them for the sake of knowing the paths between vil- 
lages which lay along our route, and always objected when they 
led us in any other than the Loanda direction, I wished my men 
now to go on without the guides, trusting to ourselves to choose 
the path which would seem to lead us in the direction we had al- 
ways followed. But Mashauana, fearing lest we might wander, 
asked leave to give his own cloth, and when the guides saw that, 
they came forward shouting " Averie, Averie'."" 

In the afternoon of this day we came to a valley about a mile 
wide, filled with clear, fast -flowing water. The men on foot 
were chin deep in crossing, and we three on ox-back got wet to 
the middle, the weight of the animals preventing them from 
swimming. A thunder-shower descending completed the partial 
drenching of the plain, and gave a cold, uncomfortable " packing 
in a wet blanket" that night. Next day we found another flood- 



364 FLOODED VALLEYS. 

ed valley about half a mile wide, with a small and now deep 
rivulet in its middle, flowing rapidly to the S.S.E., or toward 
the Kasai. The middle part of this flood, being the bed of what 
at other times is the rivulet, was so rapid that we crossed by 
holding on to the oxen, and the current soon dashed them to the 
opposite bank ; we then jumped off, and, the oxen being relieved 
of their burdens, we could pull them on to the shallower part. 
The rest of the valley was thigh deep and boggy, but holding on 
by the belt which fastened the blanket to the ox, we each floun- 
dered thi'ough the nasty slough as well as we could. These bog- 
gy parts, lying parallel to the stream, were the most extensive 
we had come to : those mentioned already were mere circum- 
scribed patches ; these extended for miles along each bank ; but 
even here, though the rapidity of the current was very consid- 
erable, the thick sward of grass was "laid" flat along the sides 
of the stream, and the soil was not abraded so much as to dis- 
color the flood. When we came to the opposite side of this 
valley, some pieces of the ferruginous conglomerate, which forms 
the capping to all other rocks in a large district around and north 
of this, cropped out, and the oxen bit at them as if surprised 
by the appearance of stone as much as we were ; or it may 
have contained some mineral of which they stood in need. We 
had not met with a stone since leaving Shinte's. The country 
is covered with deep alluvial soil of a dark color and very fer- 
tile. 

In the afternoon we came to another stream, nuana Loke (or 
child of Loke), with a bridge over it. The men had to swim off" 
to each end of the bridge, and when on it were breast deep ; 
some preferred holding on by the tails of the oxen the whole 
way across. I intended to do this too ; but, riding to the deep 
part, before I could dismount and seize the helm the ox dashed 
off with his companions, and his body sank so deep that I failed 
in my attempt even to catch the blanket belt, and if I pulled 
the bridle the ox seemed as if he would come backward upon 
me, so I struck out for the opposite bank alone. My poor fel- 
lows were dreadfully alarmed when they saw me parted from the 
cattle, and about twenty of them made a simultaneous rush into 
the water for my rescue, and just as I reached the opposite bank 
one seized my arm, and another threw his around my body. 



UNCULTIVATED VALLEYS. 365 

When I stood up, it was most gratifying to see them all strug- 
gling toward me. Some had leaped off the bridge, and al- 
lowed their cloaks to float down the stream. Part of my goods, 
abandoned in the hurry, were brought up from the bottom after 
I was safe. Great was the pleasure expressed when they found 
that I could swim, like themselves, without the aid of a tail, and 
I did and do feel grateful to these poor heathens for the prompti- 
tude with which they dashed in to save, as they thought, my life. 
I found my clothes cumbersome in the water ; they could swim 
quicker from being naked. They swim like dogs, not frog-fash- 
ion, as we do. 

In the evening we crossed the small rivulet Lozeze, and came 
to some villages of the Kasabi, from whom we got some manioc 
in exchange for beads. They tried to frighten us by telling of 
the deep rivers we should have to cross in our way. I was dry- 
ing my clothes by turning myself round and round before the fire. 
My men laughed at the idea of being frightened by rivers. " We 
can all swim : who carried the white man across the river but him- 
self?" I felt proud of their praise. 

Saturday, Ath March. Came to the outskirts of the territory 
of the Chiboque. We crossed the Konde and Kaluze rivulets. 
The former is a deep, small stream with a bridge, the latter in- 
significant ; the valleys in which these rivulets run are beautiful- 
ly fertile. My companions are continually lamenting over the 
uncultivated vales in such words as these : " What a fi.ne coun- 
try for cattle ! My heart is sore to see such fruitful valleys for 
corn lying waste." At the time these words were put down I 
had come to the belief that the reason why the inhabitants of this 
fine country possess no herds of cattle was owing to the despotic 
sway of their chiefs, and that the common people would not be 
allowed to keep any domestic animals, even supposing they 
could acquire them ; but on musing on the subject since, I have 
been led to the conjecture that the rich, fertile country of Londa 
must formerly have been infested by the tsetse, but that, as the 
people killed off the game on which, in the absence of man, the 
tsetse must subsist, the insect was starved out of the country. 
It is now found only where wild animals abound, and the Ba- 
londa, by the possession of guns, having cleared most of the 
country of all the large game, we may have happened to come 



366 DIFFEKENCE IN COLOK OF AFRICANS. 

just when it was possible to -admit of cattle. Hence the success 
of Kateraa, Shinte, and Matiamvo with their herds. It would 
not be surprising, though they know nothing of the circum- 
stance; a tribe on the Zambesi, which I encountered, whose 
country was swarming with tsetse, believed that they could not 
keep any cattle, because "no one loved them well enough to 
give them the medicine of oxen ;" and even the Portuguese at 
Loanda accounted for the death of the cattle brought from the 
interior to the sea-coast by the prejudicial influence of the sea 
air ! One ox, which I took down to the sea from the interior, 
died at Loanda, with all the symptoms of the poison injected by 
tsetse, which I saw myself in a district a hundred miles from the 
coast. 

While at the villages of the Kasabi we saw no evidences of 
want of food among the people. Our beads were very valuable, 
but cotton cloth would have been still more so ; as we trav- 
eled along, men, women, and children came running after us, 
with meal and fowls for sale, which we would gladly have pur- 
chased had we possessed any English manufactures. When 
they heard that we had no cloth, they turned back much disap- 
pointed. 

The amount of population in the central parts of the country 
may be called large only as compared with the Cape Colony or 
the Bechuana country. The cultivated land is as nothing com- 
pared with what might be brought under the plow. There 
are flowing streams in abundance, which, were it necessary, 
could be turned to the purpose of irrigation with but little 
labor. Miles of fruitful country are now lying absolutely waste, 
for there is not even game to eat off the fine pasturage, and to 
recline under the evergreen, shady groves which we are ever 
passing in our progress. The people who inhabit the central 
region are not all quite black in color. Many incline to that 
of bronze, and others are as light in hue as the Bushmen, who, 
it may be remembered, afford a proof that heat alone does not 
cause blackness, but that heat and moisture combined do very 
materially deepen the color. Wherever we find people who 
have continued for ages in a hot, humid district, they are deep 
black, but to this apparent law there are exceptions, caused by 
the migrations of both tribes and individuals ; the Makololo, for 



ATRICAN DIALECTS. 367 

instance, among the tribes of the humid central basin, appear of 
a sickly sallow hue when compared with the aboriginal inhabit- 
ants ; the Batoka also, who lived in an elevated region, are, when 
seen in company with the Batoka of the rivers, so much lighter in 
color, they might be taken for another tribe ; but their language, 
and the very marked custom of knocking out the upper front teeth, 
leave no room for doubt that they are one people. 

Apart from the influences of elevation, heat, humidity, and 
degradation, I have imagined that the lighter and darker colors 
observed in the native population run in five longitudinal bands 
along the southern portion of the continent. Those on the sea- 
board of both the east and west are very dark ; then two bands 
of lighter color lie about three hundred miles from each coast, 
of which the westerly one, bending round, embraces the Kala- 
hari Desert and Bechuana countries ; and then the central basin 
is very dark again. This opinion is not given with any de- 
gree of positiveness. It is stated just as it struck my mind in 
passing across the country, and if incorrect, it is singular that 
the dialects spoken by the different tribes have arranged them- 
selves in a fashion which seems to indicate migration along the 
lines of color. The dialects spoken in the extreme south, 
whether Hottentot or Caffre, bear a close affinity to those of 
the tribes living immediately on their northern borders ; one 
glides into the other, and their affinities are so easily detected 
that they are at once recognized to be cognate. If the dialects 
of extreme points are compared, as that of the Caffi:es and the 
tribes near the equator, it is more difficult to recognize the fact, 
which is really the case, that all the dialects belong to but two 
families of languages. Examination of the roots of the words 
of the dialects, arranged in geographical order, shows that they 
merge into each other, and there is not nearly so much differ- 
ence between the extremes of east and west as between those of 
north and south, the dialect spoken at Tete resembling closely 
that in Angola. 

Having, on the afore-mentioned date, reached the village of 
Njambi, one of the chiefs of the Chiboque, we intended to pass a 
quiet Sunday ; and our provisions being quite spent, I ordered a 
tired riding-ox to be slaughtered. As we wished to be on good 
terms with all, we sent the hump and ribs to Njambi, with the 



368 OUE ENCAMPMENT SUKEOUNDED. 

explanation that this was the customary tribute to chiefs in the 
part from which we had come, and that we always honored men 
in his position. He returned thanks, and promised to send food. 
Next morning he sent an impudent message, with a very small 
present of meal ; scorning the meat he had accepted, he demand- 
ed either a man, an ox, a gun, powder, cloth, or a shell ; and in 
the event of refusal to comply with his demand, he intimated 
his intention to prevent our further progress. We replied, we 
should have thought ourselves fools if we had scorned his small 
present, and demanded other food instead ; and even suppos- 
ing we had possessed the articles named, no black man ought to 
impose a tribute on a party that did not trade in slaves. The 
servants who brought the message said that, when sent to the 
Mambari, they had always got a quantity of cloth from them for 
their master, and now expected the same, or something else as an 
equivalent, from me. 

We heard some of the Chiboque remark, " They have only five 
guns ;" and about midday, Njambi collected all his people, and 
surrounded our encampment. Their object was evidently to 
plunder us of every thing. My men seized their javelins, and 
stood on the defensive, while the young Chiboque had drawn 
their swords and brandished them with great fury. Some even 
pointed their guns at me, and nodded to each other, as much as 
to say, "This is the way we shall do with him." I sat on my 
camp-stool, with my double-barreled gun across my knees, and 
invited the chief to be seated also. When he and his counselors 
had sat down on the ground in front of me, I asked what crime 
we had committed that he had come armed in that way. He 
replied that one of my men, Pitsane, while sitting at the fire 
that morning, had, in spitting, allowed a small quantity of the 
saliva to fall on the leg of one of his men, and this "guilt" he 
wanted to be settled by the fine of a man, ox, or gun. Pitsane 
admitted the fact of a little saliva having fallen on the Chiboque, 
and in proof of its being a pure accident, mentioned that he had 
given the man a piece of meat, by way of making friends, just 
before it happened, and wiped it off with his hand as soon as it 
fell. In reference to a man being given, I declared that we were 
all ready to diie rather than give up one of our number to be a 
slave ; that my men might as well give me as I give one of them. 



PROSPECTS OF A FIGHT. 3(39 

for we were all free men. " Then you can give the gun with which 
the ox was shot." As we heard some of his people remarking even 
noy that we had only "five guns," we declined, on the ground 
tlCit, as they were intent on plundering us, giving a gun would be 
helping them to do so. 

This they denied, saying they wanted the customary tribute 
only. I asked what right they had to demand payment for leave 
to tread on the ground of God, our common Father. If we trod 
on their gardens, we would pay, but not for marching on land 
which was still God's, and not theirs. They did not attempt to 
controvert this, because it is in accordance with their own ideas, 
but reverted again to the pretended crime of the saliva. 

My men now entreated me to give something ; and after asking 
the chief if he really thought the affair of the spitting a matter of 
guilt, and receiving an answer in the affirmative, I gave him one 
of my shirts. The young Chiboque were dissatisfied, and began 
shouting and brandishing their swords for a greater fine. 

As Pitsane felt that he had been the cause of this disagreeable 
affair, he asked me to add something else. I gave a bunch of 
beads, but the counselors objected this time, so I added a large 
ha,ndkerchief. The more I yielded, the more unreasonable their 
demands became, and at every fresh demand a shout was raised 
by the armed party, and a rush made around us with brandishing 
of arms. One young man made a charge at my head from be- 
iiind, but I quickly brought round the muzzle of my gun to his 
mouth, and he retreated. I pointed him out to the chief, and he 
ordered him to retire a little. I felt anxious to avoid the effusion 
of blood ; and though sure of being able, with my Makololo, who 
had been drilled by Sebituane, to drive off twice the number of our 
assailants, though now a large body, and well armed with spears, 
swords, arrows, and guns, I strove to avoid actual collision. My 
men were quite unprepared for this exhibition, but beliaved with 
admirable coolness. The chief and counselors, by accepting my 
invitation to be seated, had placed themselves in a trap, for my men 
very quietly surrounded them, and made them feel that there was 
no chance of escaping their spears. I then said that, as one thing- 
after another had failed to satisfy them, it was evident that they 
wanted to fight, while we only wanted to pass peaceably through 
the country ; that they must begin first, and bear the guilt before 

Aa 



370 THE FIGHT AVEKTED. 

Grod : we would not fight till they had struck the first blow. I 
then sat silent for some time. It was rather trying for me, "be- 
cause I knew that the Chiboque would aim at the white man 
first ; but I was careful not to appear flurried, and, having four 
barrels ready for instant action, looked quietly at the savage scene 
around. The Chiboque countenance, by no means handsome, is 
not improved by the practice which they have adopted of filing 
the teeth to a point. The chief and counselors, seeing that they 
were in more danger than I, did not choose to follow our decision 
that they should begin by striking the first blow, and then see 
what we could do, and were perhaps influenced by seeing the air 
of cool preparation which some of my men displayed at the pros- 
pect of a work of blood. 

The Chiboque at last put the matter before us in this way : 
"You come among us in a new way, and say you are quite 
friendly : how can we know it unless you give us some of your 
food, and you take some of ours ? If you give us an ox, we 
will give you whatever you may wish, and then we shall be 
friends." In accordance with the entreaties of my men, I gave 
an ox ; and when asked what I should like in return, mentioned 
food as the thing which we most needed. In the evening Njam- 
bi sent us a very small basket of meal, and two or t", .ee pounds 
of the flesh of our own ox ! with the apology that he had no 
fowls, and very little of any other food. It was impossible to 
avoid a laugh at the coolness of the generous creatures. I was 
truly thankful, nevertheless, that, though resolved to die rather 
than deliver up one of our number to be a slave, we had so far 
gained our point as to be allowed to pass on without having shed 
human blood. 

In the midst of the commotion, several Chiboque stole pieces 
of. meat out of the sheds of my people, and Mohorisi, one of the 
Makololo, went boldly into the crowd and took back a marrow- 
bone from one of them. A few of my Batoka seemed afraid, 
and would perhaps have fled had the affray actually begun, 
but, upon the whole, I thought my men behaved admirably. 
They lamented having left their shields at home by command 
of Sekeletu, who feared that, if they carried these, they might 
be more disposed to be overbearing in their demeanor to the 
tribes we should meet. We had proceeded on the principles 



CHANGE OF PATH. 371 

of peace and conciliation, and the foregoing treatment shows in 
what light our conduct was viewed ; in fact, we were taken for 
interlopers trying to cheat the revenue of the tribe. They had 
been accustomed to get a slave or two from every slave-trader 
who passed them, and now that we disputed the right, they view- 
ed the infringement on what they considered lawfully due with 
most virtuous indignation. 

March Qth. We were informed that the people on the west 
of the Chiboque of Njambi were familiar with the visits of slave- 
traders ; and it was the opinion of our guides from Kangenke 
that so many of my companions would be demanded from me, 
in the same manner as the people of Njambi had done, that I 
should reach the coast without a single attendant ; I therefore 
resolved to alter our course and strike away to the N.N.E., in 
the hope that at some point farther north I might find an exit to 
the Portuguese settlement of Cassange. We proceeded at first 
due north, with the Kasabi villages on our right, and the Kasau 
on our left. During the first twenty miles we crossed many 
small, but now swollen streams, having the usual boggy banks, 
and wherever the water had stood for any length of time it was 
discolored with rust of iron. We saw a " nakong" antelope 
one day, i rare sight in this quarter ; and many new and pretty 
flowers adorned the valleys. We could observe the difference 
in the seasons in our northing in company with the sun. Sum- 
mer was now nearly over at Kuruman, and far advanced at Lin- 
yanti, but here we were in the middle of it ; fruits, which we had 
eaten ripe on the Leeambye, were here quite green ; but we were 
coming into the region where the inhabitants are favored with two 
rainy seasons and two- crops, i. e., when the sun is going south, 
and when he comes back on his way to the north, as was the case 
at present. 

On the 8th, one of the men had left an ounce or two of 
powder at our sleeping-place, and went back several miles for 
it. My clothing being wet from crossing a stream, I was com- 
pelled to wait for him ; had I been moving in the sun I should 
have felt no harm, but the inaction led to a violent fit of fever. 
The continuance of this attack was a source of much regret, for 
we went on next day to a small rivulet called Chihune, in a 
lovely valley, and had, for a wonder, a clear sky and a clear 



372 INSTINCT OF TREES. 

moon ; but such was the confusion produced in my mind by 
the state of my body, that I could scarcely manage, after some 
hours' trial, to get a lunar observation in which I could repose 
confidence. The Chihune floAvs into the Longe, and that into 
the Chihombo, a feeder of the Kasai. Those who know the 
difiiculties of taking altitudes, times, and distances, and com- 
mitting all of them to paper, will sympathize with me in this 
and many similar instances. While at Chihune, the men of a 
village brought wax for sale, and, on finding that we wished 
honey, went off and soon brought a hive. All the bees in the 
country are in possession of the natives, for they place hives suf- 
ficient for them all. After having ascertained this, we never at- 
tended the call of the honey-guide, for we were sure it would only 
lead us to a hive whicli we had no right to touch. The bird con- 
tinues its habit of inviting attention to the honey, though its serv- 
ices in this district are never actually needed. My Makololo la- 
mented that they never knew before that wax could be sold for 
any thing of value. 

As we traverse a succession of open lawns and deep forests, 
it is interesting to observe something like instinct developed 
even in trees. One which, when cut, emits a milky juice, if 
met with on the open lawns, grows as an ordinary umbrageous 
tree, and shows no disposition to be a climber ; when planted 
in a forest it still takes the same form, then sends out a 
climbing branch, which twines round another tree until it rises 
thirty or forty feet, or to the level of the other trees, and there 
spreads out a second crown where it can enjoy a fair share of 
the sun's rays. In parts of the forest still more dense than this, 
it assumes the form of a climber only, and at once avails itself 
of the assistance of a tall neighbor by winding vigorously 
round it, without attempting to form a lower head. It does 
not succeed so well as parasites proper, but where forced to 
contend for space it may be mistaken for one which is inva- 
riably a climber. The paths here were very narrow and very 
much encumbered with gigantic creepers, often as thick as a 
man's leg. There must be some reason why they prefer, in 
some districts, to go up trees in the common form of the thread 
of a screw rather than in any other. On the one bank of the 
Chihune they appeared to a person standing opposite them to 



ABSENCE OF THORNS IN FOREST. 373 

wind up from left to right, on the other bank from right to left. 
I imagined this was owing to the sun being at one season of 
the year on their north and at another on their south. But 
on the Leeambje I observed creepers winding up on opposite 
sides of the same reed, and making a figure like the lacings of a 
sandal. 

In passing through these narrow paths I had an opportunity of 
observing the peculiarities of my ox " Sinbad." He had a softer 
back than the others, but a much more intractable temper. His 
horns were bent downward and hung loosely, so he could do no 
harm with them ; but as we wended our way slowly along the 
narrow path, he would suddenly dart aside. A string tied to a 
stick put through the cartilage of the nose serves instead of a bri- 
dle : if you jerk this back, it makes him run faster on ; if you 
pull it to one side, he allows the nose and head to go, but keeps 
the opposite eye directed to the forbidden spot, and goes in spite 
of you. The only way he can be brought to a stand is by a 
stroke with a wand across the nose. When Sinbad ran in below 
a climber stretched over the path so low that I could not stoop 
under it, I was dragged off and came down on the crown of my 
head ; and he never allowed an opportunity of the kind to pass 
without trying to inflict a kick, as if I neither had nor deserved 
his love. 

A remarkable peculiarity in the forests of this country is the 
absence of thorns : there are but two exceptions ; one a free 
bearing a species of nux vomica, and a small shrub very like the 
plant of the sarsaparilla, bearing, in addition to its hooked thorns, 
bunches of yellow berries. The thornlessness of the vegetation 
is especially noticeable to those who have been in the south, 
where there is so great a variety of thorn-bearing plants and trees. 
We have thorns of every size and shape ; thorns straight, thin 
and long, short and thick, or hooked, and so strong as to be able 
to cut even leather like a knife. Seed-vessels are scattered every 
where by these appendages. One lies flat as a shilling with two 
thorns in its centre, ready to run into the foot of any animal that 
treads upon it, and stick there for days together. Another (the 
Uncaria jprocumhens, or Grapple -plant) has so many hooked 
thorns as to cling most tenaciously to any animal to which it may 
become attached ; when it happens to lay hold of the mouth of 



374 PLANT OF FORSAKEN GARDENS. 

an ox, the animal stands and roars with pain and a sense of help- 
lessness. 




Seed-vessel of the " Grapple-plant 

Whenever a part of the forest has been cleared for a garden, 
and afterward abandoned, a species of plant, with leaves like those 
of ginger, springs up, and contends for the possession of the soil 
with a great crop of ferns. This is the case all the way down to 
Angola, and shows the great difference of climate between this 
and the Bechuana country, where a fern, except one or two hardj 
species, is never seen. The plants above mentioned bear a pret- 
ty pink flower close to the ground, which is succeeded by a scar- 
let fruit full of seeds, yielding, as so many fruits in tliis coun- 
try do, a pleasant acid juice, which, like the rest, is probably 
intended as a corrective to the fluids of the system in the hot 
climate. 

On leaving the Chihune we crossed the Longe, and, as the 
day was cloudy, our guides wandered in a forest away to the 
west till we came to the River Chihombo, flowing to the E.N.E. 
My men depended so much on the sun for guidance that, having 
seen nothing of the luminary all day, they thought we had wan- 
dered back to the Chiboque, and, as often happens when be- 
wildered, they disputed as to the point where the sun should 
rise next morning. As soon as the rains would allow next day, 
we went off to the N.E. It would have been better to have 
traveled by compass alone, for the guides took advantage of any 



INSUBORDINATION SUPPRESSED. 375 

fears expressed by my people, and threatened to return if presents 
were not made at once. But my men had never left their own 
country before except for rapine and murder. When they for- 
merly came to a village they were in the habit of killing numbers 
of the inhabitants, and then taking a few young men to serve as 
guides to the next place. As this was their first attempt at an 
opposite line of conduct, and as they were without their shields, 
they felt defenseless among the greedy Chiboque, and some allow- 
ance must be made for them on that account. 

Saturday, 11th. Reached a small village on the banks of a 
narrow stream. I was too ill to go out of my little covering ex- 
cept to quell a mutiny which began to show itself among some 
of the Batoka and Ambonda of our party. They grumbled, as 
they often do against their chiefs, when they think them partial 
in their gifts, because they supposed that I had shown a prefer- 
ence in the distribution of the beads ; but the beads I had given 
to my principal men were only sufficient to purchase a scanty 
meal, and I had hastened on to this village in order to slaughter 
a tired ox, and give them all a feast as v/ell as a rest on Sunday, 
as preparation for the journey before us. I explained this to 
them, and thouglit their grumbling was allayed. I soon sank 
into a state of stupor, which the fever sometimes produced, and 
was oblivious to all their noise in slaughtering. On Sunday the 
mutineers were making a terrible din in preparing a skin they 
had procured. I requested them twice, by the man who attend- 
ed me, to be more quiet, as the noise pained me ; but as they paid 
no attention to this civil request, I put out my -head, and, repeat- 
ing it myself, was answered by an impudent laugh. Knowing 
that discipline would be at an end if this mutiny were not quelled, 
and that our lives depended on vigorously upholding authority, 
I seized a double-barreled pistol, and darted forth'from the dom- 
icile, looking, I suppose, so savage as to put them to a precipitate 
flight. As some remained within hearing, I told them that I 
must maintain discipline, though at the expense of some of their 
limbs ; so long as we traveled together they must remember that 
I was master, and not they. There being but little room to doubt 
my determination, they immediately became very obedient, and 
never afterward gave me any trouble, or imagined that they had 
any right to my property. 



376 DEMANDS OF THE CHIBOQUE. 

ISth, We went forward some miles, but were brought to a 
stand bj the severity of my fever on the banks of a branch of 
the Loajima, another tributary of the Kasai. I was in a state of 
partial coma until late at night, when it became necessary for 
me to go out ; and I was surprised to find that my men had 
built a little stockade, and some of them took their spears and 
acted as a guard. I found that we were surrounded by enemies, 
and a party of Chiboque lay near the gateway, after having pre- 
ferred the demand of "a man, an ox, a gun, or a tusk." My 
men had prepared for defense in case of a night attack, and 
when the Chiboque wished to be shown where I lay sick, they 
very properly refused to point me out. In the morning I went 
out to the Chiboque, and found that they answered me civilly 
regarding my intentions in opening the country, teaching them, 
etc., etc. They admitted that their chiefs would be pleased with 
the prospect of friendship, and now only wished to exchange 
tokens of good-will with me, and offered three pigs, which they 
hoped I would accept. The people here are in the habit of 
making a present, and then demanding whatever they choose in 
return. We had been forewarned of this by our guides, so I tried 
to decline, by asking if they would eat one of the pigs in com- 
pany with us. To this proposition they said that they durst not 
accede. I then accepted the present in the hope that the blame 
of deficient friendly feeling might not rest with me, and pre- 
sented a razor, two bunches of beads, and twelve copper rings, 
contributed by my men from their arms. They went off to report 
to their chief; and as I was quite unable to move from excessive 
giddiness, we continued in the same spot on Tuesday evening, 
when they returned with a message couched in very plain terms, 
that a man, tusk, gun, or even an ox, alone would be accept- 
able ; that he had every thing else in his possession but oxen, 
and that, whatever I should please to demand from him, he 
would gladly give it. As this was all said civilly, and there was 
no help for it if we refused but bloodshed, I gave a tired riding- 
ox. My late chief mutineer, an Ambonda man, was now over- 
loyal, for he armed himself and stood at the gateway. He would 
rather die than see his father imposed on ; but I ordered Mo- 
santu to take him out of the way, which he did promptly, and 
allowed the Chiboque to march off well pleased with their booty. 



A ROBBER PARTY. 377 

I told my men that I esteemed one of their lives of more value 
than all the oxen we had, and that the only cause v^hich could 
induce me to fight would be to save the lives and liberties of 
the majority. In the propriety of this they all agreed, and said 
that, if the Chiboque molested us who behaved so peaceably, 
the guilt would be on their heads. This is a favorite mode of 
expression throughout the whole country. All are anxious to 
give explanation of any acts they have performed, and conclude 
the narration with, " I have no guilt or blame" (" molatu"). 
"They have the guilt." I never could be positive whether the 
idea in their minds is guilt in the sight of the Deity, or of man- 
kind only. 

Next morning the robber party came with about thirty yards 
of strong striped English calico, an axe, and two hoes for our 
acceptance, and returned the copper rings, as the chief was a 
great man, and did not need the ornaments of my men, but we 
noticed that they were taken back again. I divided the cloth 
among my men, and pleased them a little by thus compensating 
for the loss of the ox. I advised the chief, whose name we did 
not learn, as he did not deign to appear except under the alias 
Matiamvo, to get cattle for his own use, and expressed sorrow 
that I had none wherewith to enable him to make a commence- 
ment. Rains prevented our proceeding till Thursday morning, 
and then messengers appeared to tell us that their chief had 
learned that all the cloth sent by him had not been presented ; 
that the copper rings had been secreted by the persons order- 
ed to restore them to us, and that he had stripped the thiev- 
ish emissaries of their property as a punishment. Our guides 
thought these were only spies of a larger party, concealed in the 
forest through which we were now about to pass. We prepared 
for defense by marching in a compact body, and allowing no one 
to straggle far behind the others. We marched through many 
miles of gloomy forest in gloomier silence, but nothing disturbed 
us. We came to a village, and found all the men absent, the 
guides thought, in the forest, with their countrymen. I was too 
ill to care much whether we were attacked or not. Though a 
pouring rain came on, as we were all anxious to get away out of 
a bad neighborhood, we proceeded. The thick atmosphere pre- 
vented my seeing the creeping plants in time to avoid them ; so 



378 MORE TROUBLES. 

Pitsane, Mohorlsi, and I, who alone were mounted, were often 
caught ; and as there is no stopping the oxen when they have 
the prospect of giving the rider a tumble, we came frequently 
to the ground. In addition to these mishaps, Sinbad went off 
at a plunging gallop, the bridle broke, and I came down back- 
ward on the crown of my head. He gave me a kick on the 
thigh at the same time. I felt none the worse for this rough 
treatment, but would not recommend it to others as a palliative 
in cases of fever! This last attack of fever was so obstinate 
that it reduced me almost to a skeleton. The blanket which I 
used as a saddle on the back of the ox, being frequently wet, 
remained so beneath me even in the hot sun, and, aided by the 
heat of the ox, caused extensive abrasion of the skin, which was 
continually healing and getting sore again. To this inconven- 
ience was now added the chafing of my projecting bones on the 
hard bed. 

On Friday we came to a village of civil people on the banks 
of the Loajima itself, and we were wet all day in consequence of 
crossing it. The bridges over it, and another stream which we 
crossed at midday, were submerged, as we have hitherto inva- 
riably found, by a flood of perfectly clear water. At the second 
ford we were met by a hostile party who refused us further 
passage. I ordered my men to proceed in the same direction we 
had been pursuing, but our enemies spread themselves out in 
front of us with loud cries. Our numbers were about equal to 
theirs this time, so I moved on at the head of my men. Some ran 
off to other villages, or back to their own village, on pretense of 
getting ammunition ; others called out that all traders came to 
them, and that we must do the same. As these people had plenty . 
of iron-headed arrows and some guns, when we came to the edge 
of the forest I ordered my men to put the luggage in our centre ; 
and, if our enemies did not fire, to cut down some young trees 
and make a screen as quickly as possible, but do nothing to them 
except in case of actual attack. I then dismounted, and, advanc- 
ing a little toward our principal opponent, showed him how easily 
I could kill him, but pointed upward, saying, "I fear God." 
He did the same, placing his hand on his heart, pointing up- 
ward, and saying, " I fear to kill ; but come to our village ; come 
— do come." At this juncture, the old head man, longa Panza, a 



CONTINUED DEMANDS. 379 

venerable negro, came up, and I invited him and all to be seated, 
that we might talk the matter over. longa Panza soon let us 
know that he thought himself verj ill treated in being passed 
by. As most skirmishes arise from misunderstanding, this might 
have been a serious one ; for, like all the tribes near the Portu- 
guese settlements, people here imagine that they have a right to 
demand payment from every one who passes through the coun- 
try; and now, though longa Panza was certainly no match for 
my men, yet they were determined not to forego their right with- 
out a struggle. I removed with my men to the vicinity of the 
village, thankful that no accident had as yet brought us into actu- 
al collision. 

The reason why the people have imbibed the idea so strongly 
that they have a right to demand payment for leave to pass 
through the country is probably this. They have seen no tra- 
ders except those either engaged in purchasing slaves, or who 
have slaves in their employment. These slave-traders have al- 
ways been very much at the mercy of the chiefs through whose 
country they have passed ; for if they afforded a ready asylum for 
runaway slaves, the traders might be deserted at any moment, 
and stripped of their property altogether. They are thus obliged 
to curry favor with the chiefs, so as to get a safe conduct from 
them. The same system is adopted to induce the chiefs to part 
with their people, whom all feel to be the real source of their 
importance in the country. On the return of the traders from 
the interior with chains of slaves, it is so easy for a chief who 
may be so disposed to take away a chain of eight or ten unre- 
sisting slaves, that the merchant is fain to give any amount of 
presents in order to secure the good-will of the rulers. The inde- 
pendent chiefs, not knowing why their favor is so eagerly sought, 
become excessively proud and supercilious in their demands, and 
look upon white men with the greatest contempt. To such 
lengths did the Bangala, a tribe near to which we had now ap- 
proached, proceed a few years ago, that they compelled the Portu- 
guese traders to pay for water, wood, and even grass, and every 
possible pretext was invented for levying fines ; and these were 
patiently submitted to so long as the slave-trade continued to 
flourish. We had unconsciously come in contact with a system 
which was quite unknown in the country from which my men had 



380 VILLAGE OF lONGA PANZA. 

set out. An English trader may there hear a demand for pay- 
ment of guides, but nevei^ so far as I am aware, is- he asked to pay 
for leave to traverse a country. The idea does not seem to have 
entered the native mind, except through slave-traders, for the ab- 
origines all acknowledge that the untilled land, not needed for pas- 
turage, belongs to God alone, and that no harm is done by people 
passing through it. I rather believe that, wherever the slave-trade 
has not penetrated, the visits of strangers are esteemed a real 
privilege. 

The village of old longa Panza (lat. 10° 25^ S., long. 20° 15^ 
E.) is small, and embowered in lofty evergreen trees, which were 
hung around with fine festoons of creepers. He sent us food im- 
mediately, and soon afterward a goat, which was considered a 
handsome gift, there being but few domestic animals, though the 
country is well adapted for them. I suspect this, like the country 
of Shinte and Katema, must have been a tsetse district, and only 
recently rendered capable of supporting other domestic animals be- 
sides the goat, by the destruction of the game through the exten- 
sive introduction of fire-arms. We might all have been as igno- 
rant of the existence of this insect plague as the Portuguese, had 
it not been for the numerous migrations of pastoral tribes which 
took place in the south in consequence of Zulu irruptions. 

During these exciting scenes I always forgot my fever, but 
a terrible sense of sinking came back with the feeling of safety. 
The same demand of payment for leave to pass was made on 
the 20th by old longa Panza as by the other Chiboque. I 
offered the shell presented by Shinte, but longa Panza said 
he was too old for ornaments. We might have succeeded very 
well with him, for he was by no means unreasonable, and had 
but a very small village of supporters ; but our two guides from 
Kangenke complicated our difficulties by sending for a body of 
Bangala traders, with a view to force us to sell the tusks of 
Sekeletu, and pay them with the price. We ofiered to pay 
them handsomely if they would perform their promise of guid- 
ing us to Cassange, but they knew no more of the paths than 
we did ; and my men had paid them repeatedly, and tried to 
get rid of them, but could not. They now joined with our 
enemies, and so did the traders. Two guns and some beads 
belonging to the latter were standing in our encampment, and 



DISCOURAGEMENTS. 381 

the guides seized tliem and ran off. As my men knew that we 
should be called upon to replace them, they gave chase, and when 
the guides saw that they would be caught, they threw down the 
guns, directed their flight to the village, and rushed into a hut. 
The doorway is not much higher than that of a dog's kennel. 
One of the guides was reached by one of mj men as he was in 
the act of stooping to get in, and a cut was inflicted on a project- 
ing part of the body which would have made any one in that 
posture wince. The guns were restored, but the beads were lost 
in the flight. All I had remaining of my stock of beads could 
not replace those lost ; and though we explained" that we had no 
part in the guilt of the act, the traders replied that we had brought 
the thieves into the country ; these were of the Bangala, who had 
been accustomed to plague the Portuguese in the most vexatious 
way. We were striving to get a passage through the country, 
and, feeling anxious that no crime whatever should be laid to our 
charge, tried the conciliatory plan here, though we were not, as 
in the other instances, likely to be overpowered by numbers. 

My men offered all their ornaments, and I offered all my beads 
and shirts ; but, though we had come to the village against our 
will, and the guides had also followed us contrary to our desire, 
and had even sent for the Bangala traders without our knowledge 
or consent, yet matters could not be arranged without our giving 
an ox and one of the tusks. We were all becoming dishearten- 
ed, and could not wonder that native expeditions from the interior 
to the coast had generally failed to reach their destinations. My 
people were now so much discouraged that some proposed to re- 
turn home ; the prospect of being obliged to return when just on 
the threshold of the Portuguese settlements distressed me exceed- 
ingly. After using all my powers of persuasion, I declared to 
them that if they returned I would go on alone, and went into 
my little tent with the mind directed to Him who hears the sigh- 
ing of the soul, and was soon followed by the head of Mohorisi, 
saying, " We will never leave you. Do not be disheartened. 
Wherever you lead we will follow. Our remarks were made only 
on account of the injustice of these people." Others followed, 
and with the most artless simplicity of manner told me to be 
comforted — " they were all my children ; they knew no one but 
Sekeletu and me, and they would die for me ; they had not fought 



382 CUETAILING THE OXEN. 

because I did not wish it ; they had just spoken in the bitterness 
of their spirit, and when feeling that they could do nothing ; but 
if these enemies begin you will see what we can do." One of the 
oxen we offered to the Chiboque had been rejected because he 
had lost part of his tail, as they thought that it had been cut off 
and witchcraft medicine inserted ; and some mirth was excited 
by my proposing to raise a similar objection to all the oxen we 
still had in our possession. The remaining four soon presented 
a singular shortness of their caudal extremities, and though no 
one ever asked whether they had medicine in the stumps or no, 
we were no more troubled by the demand for an ox ! We now 
slaughtered another ox, that the spectacle might not be seen of 
the owners of the cattle fasting while the Chiboque were feasting. 



GUIDES PREPAID. 383 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Guides prepaid. — Bark Canoes.— Deserted by Guides. — Mistakes respecting the 
Coanza. — Feelings of freed Slaves. — Gardens and Villages. — Native Traders. — 
A Grave. — Valley of the Quango. — Bamboo. — White Larva used as Food. — 
Bashinje Insolence. — A posing Question. — The Chief Sansawe. — His Hostility. 
— Pass him safely. — The River Quango.— Chiefs mode of dressing his Hair. — 
Opposition. — Opportune Aid by Cypriano. — His generous Hospitality. — Ability of 
Half-castes to read and write. — Books and Images. — Marauding Party burned 
in the Grass. — Arrive at Cassange. — A good Supper. — Kindness of Captain 
Neves. — Portuguese Curiosity and Questions. — Anniversary of the Resurrection. 
— No Prejudice against Color. — Country around Cassange. — Sell Sekeletu's Ivory. 
— Makololo's Surprise at the high Price obtained. — Proposal to return Home, and 
Reasons.— Soldier-guide.— Hill Kasala. — Tala Mungongo, Village of. — Civility of 
Basongo.— True Negroes. — A Field of Wheat. — Carriers. — Sleeping-places. — 
Fever. — Enter District of Ambaca. — Good Fruits of Jesuit Teaching. — The Tam- 
pan ; its Bite. — Universal Hospitality of the Portuguese. — A Tale of the Mam- 
bari. — Exhilarating Effects of Highland Scenery. — District of Golungo Alto. — 
Want of good Roads. — Fertility. — Forests of gigantic Timber. — Native Carpen- 
ters. — Coffee Estate. — Sterility of Country near the Coast. — Musquitoes. — Fears 
of the Makololo. — Welcome by Mr. Gabriel to Loanda. 

2Uh. lONGA Panza's sons agreed to act as guides into the 
territory of the Portuguese if I would give them the shell given 
by Shinte. I was strongly averse to this, and especially to give 
it beforehand, but yielded to the entreaty of my people to ap- 
pear as if showing confidence in these hopeful youths. They 
urged that they wished to leave the shell with their wives, as a 
sort of payment to them for enduring their husbands' absence 
so long. Having delivered the precious shell, we went west- 
by-north to the Eiver Chikapa, which here (lat. 10° 22^ S.) is 
forty or fifty yards wide, and at present was deep ; it was seen 
flowing over a rocky, broken cataract with great noise about 
half a mile above our ford. We were ferried over in a canoe, 
made out of a single piece of bark sewed together at the ends, 
and having sticks placed in it at different parts to act as ribs. 
The word Chikapa means bark or skin ; and as this is the only 
river in which we saw this kind of canoe used, and we heard 



384 DESERTED BY GUIDES. 

that this stream is so low during most of the year as to be easily 
fordable, it probably derives its name from the use made of the 
bark canoes when it is in flood. We now felt the loss of our pon- 
toon, for the people to whom the canoe belonged made us pay 
once when we began to cross, then a second time when half of us 
were over, and a third time when all were over but my principal 
man Pitsane and myself. Loyanke took off his cloth and paid 
my passage with it. The Makojolo always ferried their visitors 
over rivers without pay, and now began to remark that they must 
in future fleece the Mambari as these Chiboque had done to us ; 
they had all been loud in condemnation of the meanness, and when 
I asked if they could descend to be equally mean, I was answer- 
ed that they would only do it in revenge. They like to have a 
plausible excuse for meanness. 

Next morning our guides went only about a mile, and then told 
us they would return home. I expected this when paying them 
beforehand, in accordance with the entreaties of the Makololo, 
who are rather ignorant of the world. Very energetic remon- 
strances were addressed to the guides, but they slipped off one by 
one in the thick forest through which we were passing, and I 
was glad to hear my companions coming to the conclusion that, 
as we were now in parts visited by traders, we did not require the 
guides, whose chief use had been to prevent misapprehension of 
our objects in the minds of the villagers. The country was some- 
what more undulating now than it had been, and several fine 
small streams flowed in deep woody dells. The trees are very 
tall and straight, and the forests gloomy and damp ; the ground in 
these solitudes is quite covered with yellow and brown mosses, and 
light-colored lichens clothe all the trees. The soil is extremely 
fertile, being generally a black loam covered with a thick crop of 
tall grasses. We passed several villages too. The head man of 
a large one scolded us well for passing, when he intended to give 
us food. Where slave-traders have been in the habit of coming, 
they present food, then demand three or four times its value as a 
custom. We were now rather glad to get past villages without 
intercourse with the inhabitants. 

We were traveling W.N.W., and all the rivulets we here 
crossed had a northerly course, and were reported to fall into the 
Kasai or Loke ; most of them had the peculiar boggy banks of 



FEELINGS OF FKEED SLAVES. 3S5 

tlie countiy. As we were now in the alleged latitude of the 
Coanza, I was much astonished at the entire absence of any 
knowledge of that river among the natives of this quarter. But 
I was then ignorant of the fact that the Coanza rises considerably 
to the west of this, and has a comparatively short course from its 
source to the sea. 

The famous Dr. Lacerda seems to have labored under the 
same mistake as myself, for he recommended the government 
of Angola to establish a chain of forts along the banks of that 
river, with a view to communication with the opposite coast. 
As a chain of forts'along its course would lead southward instead 
of eastward, we may infer that the geographical data within 
reach of that eminent man were no better than those according 
to which I had directed my course to the Coanza where it does 
not exist. 

26th. We spent Sunday on the banks of the Quilo or Kweelo, 
here a stream of about ten yards wide. It runs in a deep glen, 
the sides of which are almost five hundred yards of slope, and 
rocky, the rocks being hardened calcareous tufa lying on clay shale 
and sandstone below, with a capping of ferruginous conglomerate. 
The scenery would have been very pleasing, but fever took away 
much of the joy of life, and severe daily intermittents rendered me 
very weak and always glad to recline. 

As we were now in the slave-market, it struck me that the 
sense of insecurity felt by the natives might account for the 
circumstance that those who have been sold as slaves and freed 
again, when questioned, profess to like the new state better than 
their primitive one. They lived on rich, fertile plains, which 
seldom inspire that love of country which the mountains do. If 
they had been mountaineers, they would have pined for home. To 
one who has observed the hard toil of the poor in old civilized 
countries, the state in which the inhabitants here live is one of 
glorious ease. The country is full of little villages. Food 
abounds, and very little labor is required for its cultivation ; the 
soil is so rich that no manure is required ; when a garden becomes 
too poor for good crops of maize, millet, etc., the owner removes 
a little farther into the forest, applies fire round the roots of the 
larger trees to kill them, cuts down the smaller, and a new, rich 
garden is ready for the seed. The gardens usually present the ap- 

Bb 



386 GAEDENS AND VILLAGES. 

pearance of a large number of tall, dead trees standing without 
bark, and maize growing between them. The old gardens con- 
tinue to yield manioc for years after the owners have removed to 
other spots for the sake of millet and maize. But, while vegeta- 
ble aliment is abundant, there is a want of salt and animal food, 
so that numberless traps are seen, set for mice, in all the forests 
of Londa. The vegetable diet leaves great craving for flesh, and 
I have no doubt but that, when an ordinary quantity of mixed 
food is supplied to freed slaves, they actually do feel more com- 
fortable than they did at home. Their assertions, however, mean 
but little, for they always try to give an answer to please, and if 
one showed them a nugget of gold, they would generally say that 
these abounded in their country. 

One could detect, in passing, the variety of character found 
among the owners of gardens and villages. Some villages were 
the pictures of neatness. We entered others enveloped in a 
wilderness of weeds, so high that, when sitting on ox-back in the 
middle of the village, we could only see the tops of the huts. 
If we entered at midday, the owners would come lazily forth, pipe 
in hand, and leisurely puft* away in dreamy indifference. In some 
villages weeds are not allowed to grow ; cotton, tobacco, and dif- 
ferent plants used as relishes are planted round the huts ; fowls 
are kept in cages, and the gardens present the pleasant spectacle 
of different kinds of grain and pulse at various periods of their 
growth. I sometimes admired the one class, and at times wished 
I could have taken the world easy for a time like the other. Ev- 
ery village swarms with children, who turn out to see the white 
m^n pass, and run along with strange cries and antics ; some run 
up trees to get a good view: all are agile climbers throughout 
Londa. At friendly villages they have scampered alongside our 
party for miles at a time. We usually made a little hedge around 
our sheds ; crowds of women came to the entrance of it, with chil- 
dren on their backs, and long pipes in their mouths, gazing at us 
for hours. The men, rather than disturb them, crawled through 
a hole in the hedge, and it was common to hear a man in running 
off say to them, " I am going to tell my mamma to come and see 
the white man's oxen." 

In continuing our W.N.W. course, we met many parties of 
native traders, each carrying some pieces of cloth and salt, with 



TRADERS.— A GRAVE, 387 

a few beads to barter for bees'-wax. They are all armed with 
Portuguese guns, and have cartridges with iron balls. When 
we meet we usually stand a few minutes. They present a little 
salt, and we give a bit of ox-hide, or some other trifle, and then 
part with mutual good wishes. The hide of the oxen we slaugh- 
tered had been a valuable addition to our resources, for we found 
it in so great repute for girdles all through Loanda that we cut 
up every skin into strips about two inches broad, and sold them 
for meal and manioc as we went along. As we came nearer An- 
gola we found them of less value, as the people there possess cat- 
tle themselves. 

The village on the Kweelo, at which we spent Sunday, was 
that of a civil, lively old man, called Sakandala, who offered no 
objections to our progress. We found we should soon enter on 
the territory of the Bashinje (Chinge of the Portuguese), who 
are mixed with another tribe, named Bangala, which have been 
at war with the Babindele or Portuguese. Rains and fever, as 
usual, helped to impede our progress until we were put on the 
path which leads from Cassange and Bihe to Matiamvo, by a 
head man named Kamboela. This was a well-beaten footpath, 
and soon after entering upon it we met a party of half-caste 
traders from Bihe, who confirmed the information we had al- 
ready got of this path leading straight to Cassange, through 
which they had come on their way from Bihe to Cabango. They 
kindly presented my men with some tobacco, and marveled 
greatly when they found that I had never been able to teach 
myself to smoke. On parting with them we came to a trader's 
grave. This was marked by a huge cone of sticks placed in the 
form of the roof of a hut, with a palisade around it. At an 
opening on the western side an ugly idol was placed: several 
strings of beads and bits of cloth were hung around. We learn- 
ed that he had been a half-caste, who had died on his way back 
from Matiamvo. 

As we were now alone, and sure of being on the way to the 
abodes of civilization, we went on briskly. t> 

On the 30th we came to a sudden descent from the high land, 
indented by deep, narrow valleys, over which we had lately been 
traveling. It is generally so steep that it can only be descended 
at particular points, and even there I was obliged to dismount, 



388 VALLEY OF THE QUANGO. 

though so weak that I had to be led by my companions to pre- 
vent my toppling over in walking down. It was annoying to 
feel myself so helpless, for I never liked to see a man, either sick 
or well, giving in effeminately. Below us lay the valley of the 
Quango. If you sit on the spot where Mary Queen of Scots 
viewed the battle of Langside, and look down on the vale of 
Clyde, you may see in miniature the glorious sight which a much 
greater and richer valley presented to our view. It is about a 
hundred miles broad, clothed with dark forest, except where 
the light green grass covers meadow-lands on the Quango, which 
here and there glances out in the sun as it wends its way to 
the north. The opposite side of this great valley appears like 
a range of lofty mountains, and the descent into it about a mile, 
which, measured perpendicularly, may be from a thousand to 
twelve hundred feet. Emerging from the gloomy forests of Lon- 
da, this magnificent prospect made us all feel as if a weight had 
been lifted off our eyelids. A cloud was passing across the 
middle of the valley, from which rolling thunder pealed, while 
above all was glorious sunlight ; and when we went down to the 
part where we saw it passing, we found that a very heavy thun- 
der-shower had fallen under the path of the cloud ; and the bot- 
tom of the valley, which from above seemed quite smooth, we dis- 
covered to be intersected and furrowed by great numbers of deep- 
cut streams. Looking back from below, the descent appears as 
the edge of a table-land, with numerous indented dells and spurs 
jutting out all along, giving it a serrated appearance. Both the 
top and sides of the sierra are covered with trees, but large patches 
,of the more perpendicular parts are bare, and exhibit the red soil, 
which is general over the region we have now entered. 

The hollow affords a section of this part of the country; and 
we find that the uppermost stratum is the ferruginous con- 
glomerate already mentioned. The matrix is rust of iron (or 
hydrous peroxide of iron and hematite), and in it are imbedded 
water-worn pebbles of sandstone and quartz. As this is the rock 
underlying the soil of a large part of Londa, its formation must 
have preceded the work of denudation by an arm of the sea, 
which washed away the enormous mass of matter required before 
the valley of Cassange could assume its present form. The stra- 
ta under the conglomerate are all of red clay shale of different 



THE BAMBOO. 339 



degrees of hardness, the most indurated being at the bottom. 
This red clay shale is named " keele" in Scotland, and has always 
been considered as an indication of gold ; but the only thing we 
discovered was that it had given rise to a very slippery clay soil, 
so different from that w^hich we had just left that Mashauana, 
who always prided himself on being an adept at balancing himself 
in the canoe on water, and so sure of foot on land that he could 
afford to express contempt for any one less gifted, came down in 
a very sudden and undignified manner, to the delight of all whom 
he had previously scolded for falling. 

Here we met with the bamboo as thick as a man's arm, and 
many new trees. Others, which we had lost sight of since leav- 
ing Shinte, now reappeared ; but nothing struck us more than the 
comparative scragginess of the trees in this hollow. Tliose on the 
high lands we had left were tall and straight ; here they were 
stunted, and not by any means so closely planted together. The 
only way I could account for this was by supposing, as the trees 
were of different species, that the greater altitude suited the nature 
of those above better than the lower altitude did the other species 
below. 

Sunday^ April 2d. We rested beside a small stream, and our 
hunger being now very severe, from having lived on manioc alone 
since leaving lonza Panza's, we slaughtered one of our four re- 
maining oxen. The people of this district seem to feel the crav- 
ing for animal food as much as we did, for they spend much en- 
ergy in digging large white larvee out of the damp soil adjacent to 
their streams, and use them as a relish to their vegetable diet. 
The Bashinje refused to sell any food for the poor old ornaments 
my men had now to offer. We could get neither meal nor manioc, 
but should have been comfortable had not the Bashinje chief San- 
sawe pestered us for the customary present. The native traders 
informed us that a display of force was often necessary before they 
could pass this man. 

Sansawe, the chief of a portion of the Bashinje, having sent the 
usual formal demand for a man, an ox, or a tusk, spoke very con- 
temptuously of the poor things we offered him instead. We told 
his messengers that the tusks were Sekeletu's : every thing was 
gone except my instruments, which could be of no use to them 
whatever. One of them begged some meat, and, when it was re- 



390 THE CHIEF SANSAWE. 

fused, said to my men, " You may as -well give it, for we shall 
take all after we have killed you to-morrow." The more humHy 
we spoke, the more insolent the Bashinje became, till at last we 
were all feeling savage and sulky, but continued to speak as civ- 
illy as we could. They are fond of argument, and when I denied 
their right to demand tribute from a white man, who did not trade 
in slaves, an old white-headed negro put rather a posing question : 
" You know that God has placed chiefs among us whom we ought 
to support. How is it that you, who have a book that tells you 
about him, do not come forward at once to pay this chief tribute 
like every one else?" I replied by asking, "How could I know 
that this was a chief, who had allowed me to remain a day and a 
half near him without giving me any thing to eat ?" This, which 
to the uninitiated may seem sophistry, was to the Central Africans 
quite a rational question, for he at once admitted that food ought 
to have been sent, and added that probably his chief was only 
making it ready for me, and that it would come soon. 

After being wearied by talking all day to different parties sent 
by Sansawe, we were honored by a visit from himself: he is 
quite a young man, and of rather a pleasing countenance. There 
can not have been much intercourse between real Portuguese and 
these people even here, so close to the Quango, for Sansawe asked 
me to show him my hair, on the ground that, though he had 
heard of it, and some white men had even passed through his 
country, he had never seen straight hair before. This is quite 
possible, as most of the slave-traders are not Portuguese, but half- 
castes. The difference between their wool and our hair caused 
him to burst into a laugh, and the contrast between the exposed 
and unexposed parts of my skin, when exhibited in evidence of 
our all being made of one stock originally, and the children of 
one Maker, seemed to strike him with wonder. I then showed 
him my watch, and wished to win my way into his confidence by 
conversation ; but, when about to exhibit my pocket compass, 
he desired me to desist, as he was afraid of my wonderful things. 
I told him, if he knew my aims as the tribes in the interior 
did, and as I hoped he would yet know them and me, he 
would be glad to stay, and see also the pictures of the magic 
lantern ; but, as it was now getting dark, he had evidently got 
enough of my witchery, and began to use some charms to dispel 



HOSTILITY OF THE BASHINJE. 391 

any kindly feelings lie might have found stealing round his heart. 
He asked leave to go, and when his party moved off a little way, 
he sent for my spokesman, and told him that, " if we did not add 
a red jacket and a man to our gift of a few copper rings and a few 
pounds of meat, we must return by the way we had come." I 
said in reply " that we should certainly go forward next day, and 
if he commenced hostilities, the blame before God would be that 
of Sansawe ;" and my man added of his own accord, " How many 
white men have you killed in this path ?" which might be inter- 
preted into, " You have never killed any white man, and you will 
find ours more difficult to manage than you imagine." It ex- 
pressed a determination, which we had often repeated to each other, 
to die rather than yield one of our party to be a slave. 

Hunger has a powerful effect on the temper. When we had got 
a good meal of meat, we could all bear the petty annoyances of 
these borderers on the more civilized region in front with equanim- 
ity ; but having suffered considerably of late, we were all rather 
soured in our feelings, and not unfrequently I overheard my 
companions remark in their own tongue, in answer to threats 
of attack, " That's what we want : only begin then ;" or with 
clenched teeth they would exclaim to each other, " These things 
have never traveled, and do not know what jnen are." The 
worrying, of which I give only a slight sketch, had considerable 
influence on my own mind, and more especially as it was impos- 
sible to make any allowance for the Bashinje, such as I was will- 
ing to award to the Chiboque. They saw that we had nothing 
to give, nor would they be benefited in the least by enforcing the 
impudent order to return whence we had come. They were add- 
ing insult to injury, and this put us all into a fighting spirit, and, 
as nearly as we could judge, we expected to be obliged to cut our 
way through the Bashinje next morning. 

3c? April. As soon as day dawned we were astir, and, set- 
ting off in a drizzling rain, passed close to the village. This 
rain probably damped the ardor of the robbers. We, how- 
ever, expected to be fired upon from every clump of trees, or 
from some of the rocky hillocks among which we were passing ; 
and it was Only after two hours' march that we began to breathe 
freely, and my men remarked, in thankfulness, "We are children 
of Jesus." We continued our course, notwithstanding the rain, 



392 THE QUANGO. 

across the bottom of the Quango Valley, which we found broken 
by clay shale rocks jutting out, though lying nearly horizontally. 
The grass in all the hollows, at this time quite green, was about 
two feet higher than my head while sitting on ox-back. This 
grass, wetted by the rain, acted as a shower-bath on one side of 
our bodies ; and some deep gullies, full of discolored water, com- 
pleted the cooling process. We passed many villages during this 
drenching, one of which possessed a flock of sheep ; and after six 
hours we came to a stand near the River Quango (lat. 9° hZ' S., 
long. 18° 37'' E.), which may be called the boundary of the Por- 
tuguese claims to territory on the west. As I had now no change 
of clothing, I was glad to cower under the shelter of my blanket, 
thankful to God for his goodness in bringing us so far without 
losing one of the party. 

Aih April. We were now on the banks of the Quango, a river 
one hundred and fifty yards wide, and very deep. The water was 
discolored — a circumstance which we had observed in no river in 
Londa or in the Makololo country. This fine river flows among 
extensive meadows clothed with gigantic grass and reeds, and in 
a direction nearly north. 

The Quango is said by the natives to contain many venomous 
water-snakes, which congregate near the carcass of any hippo- 
potamus that may be killed in it. If this is true, it may account 
for all the villages we saw being situated far from its banks. We 
were advised not to sleep near it ; but, as we were anxious to 
cross to the western side, we tried to induce some of the Bashinje 
to lend us canoes for the purpose. This brought out the chief of 
these parts, who informed us that all the canoe-men were his 
children, and nothing could be done without his authority. He 
then made the usual demand for a man, an ox, or a gun, adding 
that otherwise we must return to the country from which we had 
come. As I did not believe that this man had any power over 
the canoes of the other side, and suspected that if I gave him my 
blanket — the only thing I now had in reserve — he might leave us 
in the lurch after all, I tried to persuade my men to go at once 
to the bank, about two miles off, and obtain possession of the 
canoes before we gave up the blanket ; but they thought that this 
chief might attack us in the act of crossing, should we do so. 
The chief came himself to our encampment and made his 



OPPORTUNE AID. 



393 



demand again. My men stripped off the last of their copper rings 
and gave them ; but he was still intent on a man. He thought, 
as others did, that my men were slaves. He was a young man, 
with his woolly hair elaborately dressed : that behind was made 
up into a cone, about eight inches in diameter at the base, care- 
fully swathed round with red and black thread. As I resisted 




Bashinje chiers mode of wearing the hair. 



the proposal to deliver up my blanket until they had placed us 
on the western bank, this chief continued to worry us with his 
demands till I was tired. My little tent was now in tatters, and 
having a wider hole behind than the door in front, I tried in vain 
to lie down out of sight of our persecutors. We were on a reedy 
flat, and could not follow our usual plan of a small stockade, in 
which we had time to think over and concoct our plans. As I 
was trying to persuade my men to move on to the bank in spite 
of these people, a young half-caste Portuguese sergeant of militia, 
Cyprian o di Abreu, made his appearance, and gave the same ad- 
vice. He had come across the Quango in search of bees'-wax. 
When we moved off from the chief who had been plaguing us, 
his people opened a fire from our sheds, and continued to blaze 
away some time in the direction we were going, but none of the 
bullets reached us. It is probable that they expected a demon- 



394 CYPRIANO'S GENEEOUS HOSPITALITY. 

stration of the albundance of ammunition they possessed would 
make us run ; but when we continued to move quietly to the ford, 
they proceeded no farther than our sleeping-place. Cypriano as- 
sisted us in making a more satisfactory arrangement with the fer- 
rymen than parting with my blanket ; and as soon as we reached 
the opposite bank we w;ere in the territory of the Bangala, who 
are subjects of the Portuguese, and often spoken of as the Cas- 
sanges or Cassantse ; and happily all our difficulties with the bor- 
der tribes were at an end. 

Passing with light hearts through the high grass by a narrow 
footpath for about three miles to the west of the river, we came to 
several neat square houses, with many cleanly-looking half-caste 
Portuguese standing in front of them to salute us. They are all 
enrolled in the militia, and our friend Cypriano is the commander 
of a division established here. The Bangala were very trouble- 
some to the Portuguese traders, and at last proceeded so far as to 
kill one of them ; the government of Angola then sent an expedi- 
tion against them, which being successful, the Bangala were dis- 
persed, and are now returning to their former abodes as vassals. 
The militia are quartered among them, and engage in trade and 
agriculture for their support, as no pay is given to this branch of 
the service by the government. « 

We came to the dwelling of Cypriano after dark, and I pitched 
my little tent in front of it for the night. We had the company 
of musquitoes here. We never found them troublesome on the 
banks of the pure streams of Londa. On the morning of the 5th 
Cypriano generously supplied my men with pumpkins and maize, 
and then invited me to breakfast, which consisted of ground-nuts 
and roasted maize, then boiled manioc roots and ground-nuts, with 
guavas and honey as a dessert. I felt sincerely grateful for this 
magnificent breakfast. 

At dinner Cypriano was equally bountiful, and several of his 
friends joined us in doing justice to his hospitality. Before eat- 
ing, all had water poured on the hands by a female slave to wash 
them. One of the guests cut up a fowl with a knife and fork. 
Neither forks nor spoons were used in eating. The repast was 
partaken of with decency and good manners, and concluded by 
washing the hands as at first. 

All of them could read and write with ease. I examined the 



BOOKS AND IMAGES. 395 

books they possessed, and found a small work on medicine, a 
small cyclopa3dia, and a Portuguese dictionary, in which the 
definition of a " priest" seemed strange to a Protestant, namely, 
"one who takes care of the conscience." They had also a few 
tracts containing the Lives of the Saints, and Cypriano had three 
small wax images of saints in his room. One of these was St. 
Anthony, who, had he endured the privations he did in his cell 
in looking after these lost sheep, would have lived to better pur- 
pose. Neither Cypriano nor his companions knew what the 
Bible was, but they had relics in German-silver cases hung round 
their necks, to act as charms and save them from danger by land 
or by water, in the same way as the heathen have medicines. It 
is a pity that the Church to which they belong, when unable to 
attend to the wants of her children, does not give them the sacred 
writings in their own tongue ; it would surely be better to see 
them good Protestants, if these would lead them to be so, than 
entirely ignorant of God's message to man. For my part, I 
would much prefer to see the Africans good Roman Catholics than 
idolatrous heathen. 

Much of the civility shown to us here was, no doubt, owing to 
the flattering letters of recommendation I carried from the Chev- 
alier Du Prat, of Cape Town ; but I am inclined to believe that 
my friend Cypriano was influenced, too, by feelings of genuine 
kindness, for he quite bared his garden in feeding us during the 
few days which I remained, anxiously expecting the clouds to 
disperse, so far as to allow of my taking observations for the de- 
termination of the position of the Quango. He slaughtered an ox 
for us, and furnished his mother and her maids with manioc roots, 
to prepare farina for the four or five days of our journey to Cas- 
sange, and never even hinted at payment. My wretched appear- 
ance must have excited his compassion. The farina is prepared 
by washing the roots well, then rasping them down to a pulp. 
Next, this is roasted slightly on a metal plate over a fire, and is 
then used with meat as a vegetable. It closely resembles wood- 
sawings, and on that account is named " wood-meal." It is in- 
sipid, and employed to lick up any gravy remaining on one's plate. 
Those who have become accustomed to it relish it even after they 
have returned to Europe. 

The manioc cultivated here is of the sweet variety ; the bitter, 



396 AERIVAL AT CASSANGE. 

to which we were accustomed in Londa, is not to be found very 
extensively in this fertile valley. May is the beginning of win- 
ter, yet many of the inhabitants were busy planting maize ; that 
which we were now eating was planted in the beginning of 
February. The soil is exceedingly fertile, of a dark red color, 
and covered with such a dense, heavy crop of coarse grass, that 
when a marauding party of Ambonda once came for plunder 
while it was in a dried state, the Bangala encircled the common 
enemy with a fire which completely destroyed them. This, which 
is related on the authority of Portuguese who were then in the 
country, I can easily believe to be true, for the stalks of the 
grass are generally as thick as goose-quills, and no flight could be 
made through the mass of grass in any direction where a foot- 
path does not exist. Probably, in the case mentioned, the direc- 
tion of the wind was such as to drive the flames across the paths, 
and prevent escape along them. On one occasion I nearly lost 
ray wagon by fire, in a valley where the grass Avas only about 
three feet high. We were roused by the roar, as of a torrent, 
made by the fire coming from the windward. I immediately set 
fire to that on our leeward, and had just time to drag the wagon 
on to the bare space there before the windward flames reached the 
place where it had stood. 

We were detained by rains and a desire to ascertain our 
geographical position till Monday, the 10th, and only got the 
latitude 9° 50^ S. ; and, after three days' pretty hard traveling 
through the long grass, reached Cassange, the farthest inland 
station of the Portuguese in Western Africa. We crossed several 
fine little streams running into the Quango; and as the grass 
continued to tower about two feet over our heads, it generally 
obstructed our view of the adjacent country, and sometimes 
hung over the path, making one side of the body wet with the 
dew every morning, or, when it rained, kept me wet during the 
whole day. I made my entrance in a somewhat forlorn state as 
to clothing among our Portuguese allies. The first gentleman I 
met in the village asked if I had a passport, and said it was 
necessary to take me before the authorities. As I was in the 
same state of mind in which individuals are who commit a petty 
depredation in order to obtain the shelter and food of a prison, 
I gladly accompanied him to the house of the commandant or 



VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 397 

Cliefe, Senlior de Silva Rego. Having shown my passport to 
this gentleman, he politely asked me to supper, and, as we had 
eaten nothing except the farina of Cypriano from the Quango to 
this, I suspect I appeared particularly ravenous to the other gen- 
tlemen around the table. They seemed, however, to understand 
my position pretty well, from having all traveled extensively 
themselves ; had they not been present, I might have put some in 
my pocket to eat by night ; for, after fever, the appetite is excess- 
ively keen, and manioc is one of the most unsatisfying kinds of 
food. Captain Antonio Rodrigues Neves then kindly invited me 
to take up my abode in his house. Next morning this generous 
man arrayed me in decent clothing, and continued during the 
whole period of my stay to treat me as if I had been his brother. 
I feel deeply grateful to him for his disinterested kindness. He 
not only attended to my wants, but also furnished food for my 
famishing party free of charge. 

The village of Cassange (pronounced Kassanje) is composed of 
thirty or forty traders' houses, scattered about without any regu- 
larity, on an elevated flat spot in the great Quango or Cassange 
valley. They are built of wattle and daub, and surrounded by 
plantations of manioc, maize, etc. Behind them there are usual- 
ly kitchen gardens, in which the common European vegetables,. as 
potatoes, peas, cabbages, onions, tomatoes, etc., etc., grow. Gua- 
vas and bananas appear, from the size and abundance of the trees, 
to have been introduced many years ago, while the land was still 
in the possession of the natives ; but pine-apples, orange, fig, and 
cashew trees have but lately been tried. There are about forty 
Portuguese traders in this district, all of whom are officers in the 
militia, and many of them have become rich from adopting the 
plan of sending out Pombeiros, or native traders, with large quan- 
tities of goods, to trade in the more remote parts of the country. 
Some of the governors of Loanda, the capital of this, the kingdom 
of Angola, have insisted on the observance of a law which, from 
motives of humanity, forbids the Portuguese themselves from 
passing beyond the boundary. They seem to liave taken it for 
gTanted that, in cases where the white trader was killed, the 
aggression had been made by him, and they wished to avoid the 
necessity of punishing those who had been provoked to shed 
Portuguese blood. This indicates a much greater impartiality 



398 POETUGUESE CUEIOSITY. 

than has obtained in our own dealings with the Caffres, for we 
have engaged in most expensive wars with them without once 
inquiring whether any of the fault lay with our frontier colonists. 
The Cassange traders seem inclined to spread along the Quango, 
in spite of the desire of their government to keep them on one 
spot, for mutual protection in case of war. If I might judge from 
the week of feasting I passed among them, they are generally 
prosperous. 

As I always preferred to appear in my own proper character, 
I was an object of curiosity to these hospitable Portuguese. 
They evidently looked upon me as an agent of the English 
government, engaged in some new movement for the suppression 
of slavery. They could not divine what a " missionario" had to 
do with the latitudes and longitudes, which I was intent on ob- 
serving. When we became a little familiar, the questions put 
were rather amusina:: "Is it common for missionaries to be doc- 

o 

tors ?" " Are you a doctor of medicine and a ' doutor mathemat- 
ico' too ? You must be more than a missionary to know how to 
calculate the longitude ! Come, tell us at once what rank you 
hold in the English army." They may have given credit to my 
reason for wearing the mustache, as that explains why men 
have beards and women have none ; but that which puzzled 
many besides my Cassange friends was the anomaly of my 
being a "sacerdote," with a wife and four children! I usually 
got rid of the last question by putting another: " Is it not better 
to have children with a wife, than to have children without a 
wife ?" But all were most kind and hospitable ; and as one 
of their festivals was near, they invited me to partake of the 
feast. 

The anniversary of the Resurrection of our Savior was ob- 
served on the 16th of April as a day of rejoicing, though the Por- 
tuguese have no priests at Cassange. The colored population 
dressed up a figure intended to represent Judas Iscariot, and 
paraded him on a riding-ox about the village ; sneers and male- 
dictions were freely bestowed on the poor wretch thus represent- 
ed. The slaves and free colored population, dressed in their gayest 
clothing, made visits to all the principal merchants, and wishing 
them " a good feast," expected a present in return. This, though 
frequently granted in the shape of pieces of calico to make new 



NO PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR. 399 

dresser, was occasionally refused, but the rebuff did not much af- 
fect the petitioner. 

At t-en A.M. we went to the residence of the commandant, and 
on a signal being given, two of the four brass guns belonging to 
the government commenced firing, and continued some time, to 
the great admiration of my men, whose ideas of the power of a 
cannon are very exalted. The Portuguese flag was hoisted and 
trumpets sounded, as an expression of joy at the resurrection of 
our Lord. Captain Neves invited all the principal inhabitants of 
the place, and did what he could to feast them in a princely 
style. All manner of foreign preserved fruits and wine from Port- 
ugal, biscuits from America, butter from Cork, and beer from En- 
gland, were displayed, and no expense spared in rendering the en- 
tertainment joyous. After the feast was over they sat down to 
the common amusement of card-playing, wliich continued till elev- 
en o'clock at night. As far as a mere traveler could judge, they 
seemed to be polite and willing to aid each other. They live in a 
febrile district, and many of them had enlarged spleens. They 
have neither doctor, apothecary, school, nor priest, and, when taken 
iU, trust to each other and to Providence. As men left in such 
circumstances must think for themselves, they have all a good 
idea of what ought to be done in the common diseases of the 
country, and what they have of either medicine or skill they free- 
ly impart to each other, v 

None of these gentlemen had Portuguese wives. They usually 
come to Africa in order to make a little money, and return to Lis- 
bon. Hence they seldom bring their wives with them, and never 
can be successful colonists in consequence. It is common for 
them to have families by native women. It was particularly grat- 
ifying to me, who had been familiar with the stupid prejudice 
against color, entertained only by those who are themselves be- 
coming tawny, to view the liberality with which people of color 
were treated by the Portuguese. Instances, so common in the 
South, in which half-caste children are abandoned, are here ex- 
tremely rare. They are acknowledged at table, and provided for 
by their fathers as if European. The colored clerks of the mer- 
chants sit at the same table with their employers without any em- 
barrassment. The civil manners of superiors to inferiors is prob- 
ably the result of the position they occupy — a few whites among 



400 COUNTRY AROUND CASSANGE. 

thousands ofblacks ; Ibut nowhere else in Africa is there so much 
good-will between Europeans and natives as here. If some bor- 
der colonists had the absolute certainty of our government de- 
clining to bear them out in their arrogance, we should proba- 
bly hear less of Caffre insolence. It is insolence which begets in- 
solence. 

From the village of Cassange we have a good view of the sur- 
rounding country : it is a gently undulating plain, covered with 
grass and patches of forest. The western edge of the Quango 
valley appears, about twenty miles off, as if it were a range of 
lofty mountains, and passes by the name of Tala Mungongo, " Be- 
hold the Range." In the old Portuguese map, to which I had 
been trusting in planning my route, it is indicated as Talla Mu- 
gongo, or '■''Castle of Rocks P and the Coanza is put down as ris- 
ing therefrom ; but here I was assured that the Coanza had its 
source near Bihe, far to the southwest of this, and we should not 
see that river till we came near Pungo Andonga. It is somewhat 
remarkable that more accurate information about this country has 
not been published. Captain Neves and others had a correct idea 
of the courses of the rivers, and communicated their knowledge 
freely ; yet about this time maps were sent to Europe from An- 
gola representing the Quango and Coanza as the same river, and 
Cassange placed about one hundred miles from its true position. 
The frequent recurrence of the same naUfe has probably helped to 
increase the confusion. I have crossed several Quangos, but all 
insignificant, except that which drains this valley. The repe- 
tition of the favorite names of chiefs, as Catende, is also per- 
plexing, as one Catende may be mistaken for another. To avoid 
this confusion as much as possible, I have refrained from intro- 
ducing many names. Numerous villages are studded all over 
the valley; but these possess no permanence, and many more 
existed previous to the Portuguese expedition of 1850 to punish 
the Bangala. 

This valley, as I have before remarked, is all fertile in the 
extreme. My men could never cease admiring its capability for 
raising their corn {Holcus sorghurn)^ and despising the compar- 
atively limited cultivation of the inhabitants. The Portuguese 
informed me that no manure is ever needed, but that, the more 
the ground is tilled, the better it yields. Virgin soil does not give 



SALE OF IVORY. 401 

such a heavy crop as an old garden, and, judging from the size 
of the maize and manioc in the latter, I can readily believe the 
statement. Cattle do well, too. Viewing the valley as a whole, 
it may he said that its agricultural and pastoral riches are lying 
waste. Both the Portuguese and their descendants turn their at- 
tention almost exclusively to trade in wax and ivory, and though 
the country would yield any amount of corn and dairy produce, 
the native Portuguese live chiefly on manioc, and the Europeans 
purchase their flour, bread, butter, and cheese from the Americans. 

As the traders of Cassange were the first white men we had 
come to, we sold the tusks belonging to Sekeletu, wdiich had been 
brought to test the difference of prices in the Makololo and white 
men's country. The result was highly satisfactory to my com- 
panions, as the Portuguese give much larger prices for ivory than 
traders from the Cape can possibly give, who labor under the 
disadvantage of considerable overland expenses and ruinous re- 
strictions. Two muskets, three small barrels of gunpowder, and 
English calico and baize sufficient to clothe my whole party, with 
large bunches of beads, all for one tusk, were quite delightful for 
those who had been accustomed to give two tusks for one gun. 
With another tusk we procured calico, which here is the chief 
currency, to pay our way down to the coast. The remaining two 
were sold for money to purchase a horse for Sekeletu at Loanda. 

The superiority of this new market was quite astounding to the 
Makololo, and they began to abuse the traders by whom they 
had, while in their own country, been visited, and, as they now 
declared, " cheated." They had no idea of the value of time and 
carriage, and it was somewhat difficult for me to convince them 
that the reason of the difference of prices lay entirely in what 
they themselves had done in coming here, and that, if the Portu- 
guese should carry goods to their country, they would by no 
mean^be so liberal in their prices. They imagined that, if the 
Cassange traders came to Linyanti, they would continue to vend 
their goods at Cassange prices. I believe I gave them at last a 
clear idea of the manner in which prices were regulated by the 
expenses incurred ; and when we went to Loanda, and saw goods 
delivered at a still cheaper rate, they concluded that it would be 
better for them to come to that city, than to turn homeward at 
Cassange. 

Cc 



402 DEPAETUEE EROM CASSANGE. 

It was interesting for me to observe the effects of the restrict- 
ive policy pursued by the Cape government toward the Bechu- 
anas. Like all other restrictions on trade, the law of preventing 
friendly tribes from purchasing arms and ammunition only in- 
jures the men who enforce it. The Cape government, as already 
observed, in order to gratify a company of independent Boers, 
whose well-known predilection for the practice of slavery caused 
them to stipulate that a number of peaceable, honest tribes should 
be kept defenseless, agreed to allow free trade in arms and ammu- 
nition to the Boers, and prevent the same trade to the Bechuanas. 
The Cape government thereby unintentionally aided, and contin- 
ues to aid, the Boers to enslave the natives. But arms and am- 
munition flow in on all sides by new channels, and where former- 
ly the price of a large tusk procured but one musket, one tusk of 
the same size now brings ten. The profits are reaped by other 
nations, and the only persons really the losers, in the long run, 
are our own Cape merchants, and a few defenseless tribes of Bechu- 
anas on our immediate frontier. 

Mr. Eego, the commandant, very handsomely offered me a 
soldier as a guard to Ambaca. My men told me that they had 
been thinking it would be better to turn back here, as they had 
been informed by the people of color at Cassange that I was 
leading them down to the sea-coast only to sell them, and they 
would be taken on board ship, fattened, and eaten, as the white 
men were cannibals. I asked if they had ever heard of an 
Englishman buying or selling people ; if I had not refused to take 
a slave when she was offered to me by Shinte ; but, as I had 
always behaved as an English teacher, if they now doubted my 
intentions, they had better not go to the coast ; I, however, who 
expected to meet some of my countrymen there, was determined 
to go on. They replied that they only thought it right to tell 
me what had been told to them, but they did not intend to leave 
me, and would follow wherever I should lead the way. This 
affair being disposed of for the time, the commandant gave them 
an ox, and me a friendly dinner before parting. All the mer- 
chants of Cassange accompanied us, in their hammocks carried by 
slaves, to the edge of the plateau on which their village stands, 
and we parted with the feeling in ipy mind that I should never 
forget their disinterested kindness. They not only did every thing 



A SOLDIER-GUIDE. 405 

they could to make my men and me comfortable during our stay : 
but, there being no hotels in Loanda, they furnished me with let- 
ters of recommendation to their friends in that city, requesting 
them to receive me into their houses, for without these a stranger 
might find himself a lodger in the streets. May God remember 
them in their day of need ! 

The latitude and longitude of Cassange, the most easterly sta- 
tion of the Portuguese in Western Africa, is lat. 9° 37'' 30^^ S., and 
long. 17° 49^ E. ; consequently we had still about 300 miles to 
traverse before we could reach the coast. We had a black militia 
corporal as a guide. He was a native of Ambaca, and, like nearly 
all the inhabitants of that district, known by the name of Amba- 
kistas, could both read and write. He had three slaves with him, 
and was carried by them in a "tipoia,"or hammock slung to a 
pole. His slaves were young, and unable to convey him far at a 
time, but he was considerate enough to walk except when we came 
near to a village. He then mounted his tipoia and entered the 
village in state ; his departure was made in the same manner, and 
he continued in the hammock till the village was out of sight. It 
was interesting to observe the manners of our soldier-guide. Two 
slaves were always employed in carrying his tipoia, and the third 
carried a wooden box, about three feet long, containing his writing 
materials, dishes, and clothing. He was cleanly in all his ways, 
and, though quite black himself, when he scolded any one of his 
own color, abused him as a "negro." When he wanted to pur- 
chase any article from a village, he would sit down, mix a little 
gunpowder as ink, and write a note in a neat hand to ask the 
price, addressing it to the shopkeeper with the rather pompous 
title, " Illustrissimo Senhor" (Most Illustrious Sir). This is the 
invariable mode of address throughout Ana-ola. The answer re- 
turned would be in the same style, and, if satisfactory, another 
note followed to conclude the bargain. There is so much of this 
note correspondence carried on in Angola, that a very large quan- 
tity of paper is annually consumed. Some other peculiarities of 
our guide were not so pleasing. A land of slaves is a bad school 
for even the free ; and I was sorry to find less truthfulness and 
honesty in him than in my own people. We were often cheated 
through his connivance with the sellers of food, and could perceive 
that he got a share of the plunder from them. The food is very 



406 HILL KASALA. 

cheap, biit it was generally made dear enough, until I refused to 
allow him to come near the place where we were bargaining. But 
he took us safely down to Ambaca, and I was glad to see, on my 
return to Cassange, that he was promoted to be sergeant-major of 
a company of militia. 

Having left Cassange on the 21st, we passed across the remain- 
ing portion of this excessively fertile valley to the foot of Tala 
Mungongo. We crossed a fine little stream called the Lui on the 
22d, and another named the Luare on the 24th, then slept at the 
bottom of the height, which is from a thousand to fifteen hundred 
feet. The clouds came floating along the valley, and broke against 
the sides of the ascent, and the dripping rain on the tall grass 
made the slaps in the face it gave, when the hand or a stick was 
not held up before it, any thing but agreeable. This edge of the 
valley is exactly like the other ; jutting spurs and defiles give the 
red ascent the same serrated appearance as that which we de- 
scended from the highlands of Londa. The whole of this vast 
valley has been removed by denudation, for pieces of the plateau 
which once filled the now vacant space stand in it, and present 
the same structure of red horizontal strata of equal altitudes with 
those of the acclivity which we are now about to ascend. One 
of these insulated masses, named Kasala, bore E.S.E. from the 
place where we made our exit from the valley, and about ten 
miles W.S.W. from the village of Cassange. It is remarkable 
for its perpendicular sides ; even the natives find it extremely 
difficult, almost impossible, to reach its summit, though there is 
the temptation of marabou-nests and feathers, which are highly 
prized. There is a small lake reported to exist on its southern 
end, and, during the rainy season, a sort of natural moat is formed 
around the bottom. What an acquisition this would have been in 
feudal times in England I There is land sufficient for considera- 
ble cultivation on the top, with almost perpendicular sides more 
than a thousand feet in height. 

We had not yet got a clear idea of the nature of Tala Mun- 
gongo. A gentleman of Cassange described it as a range of very 
high mountains, which it would take four hours to climb; so, 
though the rain and grass had wetted us miserably, and I was suf- 
fering from an attack of fever got while observing by night for the 
position of Cassange, I eagerly commenced the ascent. The path 



TALA MUNGONGO. 407 

was steep and slippery ; deep gorges appear on each side of it, 
leaving but a narrow path along certain spurs of the sierra for the 
traveler ; but we accomplished the ascent in an hour, and when 
there, found we had just got on to a table-land similar to that we 
had left before we entered the great Quango valley. We had 
come among lofty trees again. One of these, bearing a fruit 
about the size of a thirty-two pounder, is named Mononga-zambi. 

We took a glance back to this valley, which equals that of the 
Mississippi in fertility, and thought of the vast mass of material 
which had been scooped out and carried away in its formation. 
This 'naturally led to reflection on the countless ages required for 
the previous formation and deposition of that same material (clay 
shale), then of the rocks, whose abrasion formed tUat^ until the 
mind grew giddy in attempting to ascend the steps which lead up 
through a portion of the eternity before man. The different 
epochs of geology are like landmarks in that otherwise shoreless 
sea. Our own epoch, or creation, is but another added to the 
number of that wonderful series which presents a grand display 
of the mighty power of God : every stage of progress in the earth 
and its habitants is such a display. So far from this science 
having any tendency to make men undervalue the power or love 
of God, it leads to the probability that the exhibition of mercy we 
have in the gift of his Son may possibly not be the only mani- 
festation of grace which has taken place in the countless ages dur- 
ing which works of creation have been going on. 

Situated a few miles from the edge of the descent, we found 
the village of Tala Mungongo, and were kindly accommodated 
with a house to sleep in, which was very welcome, as we were all 
both wet and cold. We found that the greater altitude and the 
approach of winter lowered the temperature so much that many 
of my men suffered severely from colds. At this, as at several 
other Portuguese stations, they have been provident enough to 
erect travelers' houses on the Same principle as khans or cara- 
vanserais of the East. They are built of the usual wattle and 
daub, and have benches of rods for the wayfarer to make his bed 
on ; also chairs, and a table, and a large jar of water. These 
benches, though far from luxurious couches, were better than the 
ground under the rotten fragments of my gipsy-tent, for we had 
still showers occasionally, and the dews were very heavy. I con- 



408 BASONGO.— TRUE NEGROES. 

tinued to use them for the sake of the shelter they afforded, until 
I found that they were lodghigs also for certain inconvenient bed- 
fellows. 

21th. Five hours' ride through a pleasant country of forest and 
meadow, like those of Londa, brought us to a village of Basongo, a 
tribe living in subjection to the Portuguese. We crossed several 
little streams, which were flowing in the westerly direction in 
which we were marching, and unite to form the Quize, a feeder of 
the Coanza. The Basongo were very civil, as indeed all the tribes 
were who had been conquered by the Portuguese. The Basongo 
and Bangala are yet only partially subdued. The farther west 
we go from this, the less independent we find the black popula- 
tion, until we reach the vicinity of Loanda, where the free natives 
are nearly identical in their feelings toward the government with 
the slaves. But the governors of Angola wisely accept the lim- 
ited allegiance and tribute rendered by the more distant tribes 
as better than none. 

All the inhabitants of this region, as well as those of Londa, 
may be called true negroes, if the limitations formerly made be 
borne in mind. The dark color, thick lips, heads elongated 
backward and upward and covered with wool, flat noses, witli 
other negro peculiarities, are general ; but, while these charac- 
teristics place them in the true negro family, the reader would 
imbibe a wrong idea if lie supposed that all these features com- 
bined are often met with in one individual. All have a certain 
thickness and prominence of lip, but many are met with in every 
village in whom thickness and projection are not more marked 
than in Europeans. All are dark, but the color is shaded off 
in different individuals from deep black to light yellow. As we 
go westward, Ave observe the light color predominating over the 
dark, and then again, when we come within the influence of damp 
from the sea air, we find the shade deepen into the general 
blackness of the coast population. The shape of the head, with 
its woolly crop, though general, is not universal. The tribes on 
the eastern side of the continent, as the Caffres, have heads finely 
developed and strongly European. Instances of this kind are 
frequently seen, and after I became so familiar with the dark 
color as to forget it in viewing the countenance, I was struck 
by the strong resemblance some natives bore to certain of our 



THE QUIZE. 409 

own notabilities. The Bushmen and Hottentots are exceptions 
to these remarks, for both the shape of their heads and growth 
of wool are peculiar ; the latter, for instance, springs from the 
scalp in tufts with bare spaces between, and when the crop is 
short, resembles a number of black pepper-corns stuck on the 
skin, and verj unlike the thick frizzly masses which cover the 
heads of the Balonda and Maravi. With every disposition to pay 
due deference to the opinions of those who have made ethnology 
their special study, I have felt myself unable to believe that the 
exaggerated features usually put forth as those of the typical 
negro characterize the majority of any nation of ^outh Central 
Africa. The monuments of the ancient Egyptians seem to me to 
imbody th^ ideal of the inhabitants of Londa better than the fig- 
ures of any work of ethnology I have met with. 

Passing through a fine, fertile, and well-peopled country to San- 
za, we found the Quize Eiver again touching our path, and here we 
had the pleasure of seeing a field of wheat growing luxuriantly with- 
out irrigation. The ears Avere upward of four inches long, an ob- 
ject of great curiosity to my companions, because they had tasted 
ray bread at Linyanti, but had never before seen wheat growing. 
This small field was cultivated by Mr. Miland, an agreeable Por- 
tuguese merchant. His garden was interesting, as showing what 
the land at this elevation is capable of yielding ; for, besides wheat, 
we saw European vegetables in a flourishing condition, and we 
afterward discovered that the coffee-plant has propagated itself 
on certain spots of this same district. It may be seen on the 
heights of Tala Mungongo, or nearly 300 miles from the west 
coast, where it was first introduced by the Jesuit missionaries. 

We spent Sunday, the 30th of April, at Ngio, close to the ford 
of the Quize as it crosses our path to fall into the Coanza. The 
country becomes more open, but is still abundantly fertile, with 
a thick crop of grass between two and three feet high. It is also 
well wooded and watered. Villages of Basongo are dotted over 
the landscape, and frequently a square house of wattle and daub, 
belonging to native Portuguese, is placed beside them for the 
purposes of trade. The people here possess both cattle and pigs. 
The difi'erent sleeping-places on our path, from eight to ten miles 
apart, are marked by a cluster of sheds made of sticks and grass. 
There is a constant stream of people going and returning to and 



410 CAEKIEES.— FEVER. 

from the coast. The goods are carried on the head, or on one 
shoulder, in a sort of basket attached to the extremities of two 
poles between five and six feet long, and called Motete. When 
the basket is placed on the head, the poles project forward hor- 
izontally, and when the carrier wishes to rest himself, he plants 
them on the ground and the burden against a tree, so he is not 
obliged to lift it up from the ground to the level of the head. It 
stands against the tree propped up by the poles at that level. 
The carrier frequently plants the poles on the ground, and stands 
holding the burden until he has taken breath, thus avoiding the 
trouble of placing the burden on the ground and lifting it up 
again. 

When a company of these carriers, or our own party, arrives at 
one of these sleeping-places, immediate possession is taken of the 
sheds. Those who come late, and find all occupied, must then 
erect others for themselves ; but this is not difficult, for there is 
no lack of long grass. No sooner do any strangers appear at the 
spot, than the women may be seen emerging from their villages 
bearing baskets of manioc-meal, roots, ground-nuts, yams, bird's- 
eye pepper, and garlic for sale. Calico, of which we had brought 
some from Cassange, is the chief medium of exchange. We 
found them all civil, and it was evident, from the amount of 
talking and laughing in bargaining, that the ladies enjoyed their 
occupation. They must cultivate largely, in order to be able to 
supply the constant succession of strangers. Those, however, 
near to the great line of road, purchase also much of the food from 
the more distant villages for the sake of gain. 

Pitsane and another of the men had violent attacks of fever, 
and it was no wonder, for the dampness and evaporation from 
the ground was excessive. When at any time I attempted to get 
an observation of a star, if the trough of mercury were placed on 
the ground, so much moisture was condensed on the inside of the 
glass roof over it that it was with difficulty the reflection of the 
star could be seen. When the trough was placed on a box to 
prevent the moisture entering from below, so much dew was 
deposited on the outside of the roof that it was soon necessary, 
for the sake of distinct vision, to wipe the glass. This would 
not have been of great consequence, but a short exposure to 
this dew was so sure to bring on a fresli fever, that I was obliged 



DISTKICT OF AMBACA. 413 

to give up olbservations by night altogether. The inside of the 
only covering I now had was not much better, but under the 
blanket one is not so liable to the chill which the dew produces. 

It would have afforded me pleasure to have cultivated a more 
intimate acquaintance with the inhabitants of this part of the 
country, but the vertigo produced by frequent fevers made it as 
much as I could do to stick on the ox and crawl along in misery. 
In crossing the Lombe, my ox Sinbad, in the indulgence of his 
propensity to strike out a new path for himself, plunged overhead 
into a deep hole, and so soused me that I was obliged to move 
on to dry my clothing, without calling on the Europeans who live 
on the bank. This I regretted, for all the Portuguese were very 
kind, and, like the Boers placed in similar circumstances, feel it a 
slight to be passed without a word of salutation. But we went 
on to a spot where orange-trees had been planted by the natives 
themselves, and where abundance of that refresning fruit was ex- 
posed for sale. 

On entering the district of Ambaca, we found the landscape en- 
livened by the appearance of lofty mountains in the distance, the 
grass comparatively short, and the whole country at this time look- 
ing gay and verdant. On our left we saw certain rocks of the 
same nature with those of Pungo Andongo, and which closely re- 
semble the Stonehenge group on Salisbury Plain, only the stone 
pillars here are of gigantic size. This region is all wonderfully 
fertile, famed for raising cattle, and all kinds of agricultural prod- 
uce, at a cheap rate. The soil contains sufficient ferruginous 
matter, to impart a red tinge to nearly the whole of it. It is 
supplied with a great number of little flowing streams which 
unite in the Lucalla. This river drains Ambaca, then falls into 
the Coanza to the southwest at Massangano. We crossed the 
Lucalla by means of a large canoe kept there by a man who farms 
the ferry from the government, and charges about a penny per 
head. A few miles beyond the Lucalla we came to the village 
of Ambaca, an important place in former times, but now a mere 
paltry village, beautifully situated on a little elevation in a plain 
surrounded on all hands by lofty mountains. It has a jail, and 
a good house for the commandant, but neither fort nor church, 
though the ruins of a place of worship are still standing. 

We were most kindly received by the commandant of Ambaca, 



414 FRUITS OF JESUIT TEACHING. 

Arsenio de Carpo, who spoke a little English. He recommended 
wine for my debility, and here I took the first glass of that bev- 
erage I had taken in Africa. I felt much refreshed, and could 
then realize and meditate on the weakening effects of the fever. 
They were curious even to myself; for, though I had tried several 
times since we left Ngio to take lunar observations, I could not 
avoid confusion of time and distance, neither could I hold the 
instrument steady, nor perform a simple calculation ; hence many 
of the positions of this part of the route were left till my return 
from Loanda. Often, on getting up in the mornings, I found my 
clothing as wet from perspiration as if it had been dipped in 
water. In vain had I tried to learn or collect words of the 
Bunda, or dialect spoken in Angola. I forgot the days of the 
week and the names of my companions, and, had I been asked, 
I probably could not have told my own. The complaint itself 
occupied many of my thoughts. One day I supposed that I had 
got the true theory of it, and would certainly cure the next at- 
tack, whether in myself or companions ; but some new symptoms 
would appear, and scatter all the fine speculations which had 
sprung up, with extraordinary fertility, in one department of my 
brain. 

This district is said to contain upward of 40,000 souls. Some 
ten or twelve miles to the north of the village of Ambaca there 
once stood the missionary station of Cahenda, and it is now quite 
astonishing to observe the great numbers who can read and write 
in this district. This is the fruit of the labors of the Jesuit and 
Capuchin missionaries, for they taught the people of Ambaca ; 
and ever since the expulsion of the teachers by the Marquis of 
Pombal, the natives have continued to teach each other. These 
devoted men are still held in high estimation throughout the 
country to this day. All speak well of them (os padres Jesuitas) ; 
and, now that they are gone from this lower sphere, I could not 
help wishing that these our Koman Catholic fellow-Christians had 
felt it to be their duty to give the people the Bible, to be a light 
to their feet when the good men themselves were gone. 

When sleeping in the house of the commandant, an insect, well 
known in the southern country by the name Tampan, bit my foot. 
It is a kind of tick, and chooses by preference the parts between 
the fingers or toes for inflicting its bite. It is seen from the size 



THE TAMPAN.— CABINDA. 415 

of a pin's head to that of a pea, and is common in all the native 
huts in this countiy. It sucks the blood until quite full, and is 
then of a dark blue color, and its skin so tough and yielding that 
it is impossible to burst it by any amount of squeezing with the 
fingers. I had felt the effects of its bite in former years, and 
eschewed all native huts ever after ; but as I was here again 
assailed in a European house, I shall detail the effects of the bite. 
These are a tingling sensation of mingled pain and itching, 
which commences ascending the limb until the poison imbibed 
reaches the abdomen, where it soon causes violent vomiting and 
purging. Where these effects do not follow, as we found after- 
ward at Tete, fever sets in ; and I was assured by intelligent Por- 
tuguese there that death has sometimes been the result of this fe- 
ver. The anxiety my friends at Tete manifested to keep my 
men out of the reach of the tampans of the village made it evident 
that they had seen cause to dread this insignificant insect. The 
only inconvenience I afterward suffered from this bite was the 
continuance of the tingling sensation in the point bitten for about 
a week. 

May 12th. As we were about to start this morning, the com- 
mandant, Senhor Arsenio, provided bread and meat most bounti- 
fully for my use on the way to the next station, and sent two mi- 
litia soldiers as guides, instead of our Cassange corporal, who left 
us here. About midday we asked for shelter from the sun in the 
house of Senhor Mellot, at Zangu, and, though I was unable to sit 
and engage in conversation, I found, on rising from his couch, 
that he had at once proceeded to cook a fowl for my use-; and at 
parting he gave me a glass of wine, which prevented the violent 
fit of shivering I expected that afternoon. The universal hospi- 
tality of the Portuguese was most gratifying, as it was quite un- 
expected ; and even now, as I copy my journal, I remember it all 
with a glow of gratitude. 

We spent Sunday, the 14th of May, at Cabinda, which is one 
of the stations of the sub-commandants, who are placed at differ- 
ent points in each district of Angola as assistants of the head- 
commandant, or chefe. It is situated in a beautiful glen, and 
surrounded by plantations of bananas and manioc. The country 
was gradually becoming more picturesque the farther we pro- 
ceeded west. The ranges of lofty blue mountains of Libollo, 



416 DISTRICT OF GOLUNGO ALTO. 

whicli, in coming toward Ambaca, we had seen thirty or forty 
miles to our south, were now shut from our view by others nearer 
at hand, and the gray ranges of Cahenda and Kiwe, which, while 
we were in Arahaca, stood clearly defined eight or ten miles off to 
the north, were now close upon our right. As we looked hack 
toward the open pastoral country of Ambaca, the broad green 
gently undulating plains seemed in a hollow surrounded on all 
sides by rugged mountains, and as we went westward we were 
entering upon quite a wild-looking mountainous district, called 
Golungo Alto. 

We met numbers of Mambari on their way back to Bihe. 
Some of them had belonged to the parties which had penetrated 
as far as Linyanti, and foolishly showed their displeasure at tlie 
prospect of the Makololo preferring to go to the coast markets 
themselves to intrusting them with their ivory. The Mambari 
repeated the tale of the mode in which the white men are said 
to trade. " The ivory is left on the shore in the evening, and 
next morning the seller finds a quantity of goods placed there 
in its stead by the white men who live in the sea." "Now," 
added they to my men, "how can you Makolo trade with 
these ' Mermen V Can you enter into the sea, and tell them to 
come ashore ?" It was remarkable to hear this idea repeated so 
near the sea as we now were. My men replied that they only 
wanted to see for themselves ; and, as they were now getting some 
light on the nature of the trade carried on by the Mambari, they 
were highly amused on perceiving the reasons why the Mambari 
would rather have met them on the Zambesi than so near the 
sea-coast. 

There is something so exhilarating to one of Highland blood 
in being near or on high mountains, that I forgot my fever as we 
wended our way among the lofty tree-covered masses of mica 
schist which form the highlands around the romantic residence 
of the chefe of Golungo Alto. (Lat. 9° 8^ 30^^ S., long. 15° 
2^ E.) The whole district is extremely beautiful. The hills are 
all bedecked with trees of various hues of foliage, and among 
them towers the graceful palm, which yields the oil of commerce 
for making our soaps, and the intoxicating toddy. Some clus- 
ters of hills look like the waves of the sea driven into a narrow 
open bay, and have assumed the same form as if, when all 



CAERIERS. 417 

were chopping up perpendicularly, they had suddenly been con- 
gealed. The cottages of the natives, perched on the tops of 
many of the hillocks, looked as if the owners possessed an eye 
for the romantic, but they were probably influenced more by the 
desire to overlook their gardens, and keep their families out of 
the reach of the malaria, which is supposed to prevail most on 
the banks of the numerous little streams which run among the 
hills. 

We were most kindly received by the commandant, Lieutenant 
Antonio Canto e Castro, a young gentleman whose whole sub- 
sequent conduct will ever make me regard him with great 
affection. Like every other person of intelligence whom I had 
met, he lamented deeply the neglect with which this fine country 
has been treated. This district contained by the last census 
26,000 hearths or fires ; and if to each hearth we reckon four 
souls, we have a population of 104,000. The number of carre- 
gadores (carriers) who may be ordered out at the pleasure of 
government to convey merchandise to the coast is in this dis- 
trict alone about 6000, yet there is no good road in existence. 
This system of compulsory carriage of merchandise was adopted 
in consequence of the increase in numbers and activity of our 
cruisers, which took place in 1845. Each trader who went, pre- 
vious to that year, into the interior, in the pursuit of his calling, 
proceeded on the plan of purchasing ivory and beeswax, and a 
sufficient number of slaves to carry these commodities. The 
whole were intended for exportation as soon as the trader reached 
the coast. But when the more stringent measures of 1845 came 
into operation, and rendered the exportation of slaves almost 
impossible, there being no roads proper for the employment of 
wheel conveyances, this new system of compulsory carriage of 
ivory and beeswax to the coast was resorted to by the govern- 
ment of lioanda. A trader who requires two or three hundred 
carriers to convey his merchandise to the coast now applies to 
the general government for aid. An order is sent to the com- 
mandant of a district to furnish the number required. Each 
head man of the villages to whom the order is transmitted must 
furnish from five to twenty or thirty men, according to the 
proportion that his people bear to the entire population of the 
district. For this accommodation the trader must pay a tax to 

D D 



418 GOLUNGO ALTO. 

the government of 1000 reis, or about three shillings per load 
carried. The trader is obliged to pay the carrier also the sum 
of 50 reis, or about twopence a day, for his sustenance. And 
as a day's journey is never more than from eight to ten miles, 
the expense which must be incurred for this compulsory labor 
is felt to be heavy by those who were accustomed to employ 
slave labor alone. Yet no effort has been made to form a 
great line of road for wheel carriages. The first great want of a 
country has not been attended to, and no development of its vast 
resources has taken place. The fact, however, of a change from 
one system of carriage to another, taken in connection with the 
great depreciation in the price of slaves near this coast, proves 
the effectiveness of our efforts at repressing the slave-trade on the 
ocean. 

The latitude of Golungo Alto, as observed at the residence 
of the commandant, was 9° 8^ 30'" S., longitude 15° 2" E. A 
few days' rest with this excellent young man enabled me to 
regain much of my strength, and I could look with pleasure on 
the luxuriant scenery before his door. We were quite shut in 
among green hills, many of which were cultivated up to their 
tops with manioc, coffee, cotton, ground-nuts, bananas, pine-ap- 
ples, guavas, papaws, custard-apples, pitangas, and jambos, frui+ 
brought from South America by the former missionaries. TuC 
high hills all around, with towering palms on many points, made 
this spot appear more like the Bay of Eio de Janeiro in miniature 
than any scene I ever saw ; and all who have seen that confess 
it to be unequaled in the world beside. The fertility evident 
in every spot of this district was quite marvelous to behold, but 
I shall reserve further notices of this region till pur return from 
Loanda. 

We left Golungo Alto on the 24th of May, the winter in these 
parts. Every evening clouds come rolling in great masses over 
the mountains in the west, and pealing thunder accompanies the 
fall of rain during the night or early in the morning. The clouds 
generally remain on the hills till the morning is well spent, so 
that we become familiar with morning mists, a thing we never 
once saw at Kolobeng. The thermometer stands at 80° by day, 
but sinks as low as 76° by night. 

In going westward we crossed several fine little gushing streams 



COFFEE ESTATE. 419 

which never dry. They unite in the Luinha (pronounced Lu- 
eenya) and Lucalla. As they flow over many little cascades, 
they might easily be turned to good account, but they are all 
allowed to run on idly to the ocean. We passed through forests 
of gigantic timber, and at an open space named Cambondo, about 
eight miles from Golungo Alto, found numbers of carpenters 
converting these lofty trees into planks, in exactly the same 
manner as was followed by the illustrious Eobinson Crusoe. A 
tree of three or four feet in diameter, and forty or fifty feet up to 
the nearest branches, was felled. It was then cut into lengths of 
a few feet, and split into thick junks, which again were reduced 
to planks an inch thick by persevering labor with the axe. The 
object of the carpenters was to make little chests, and they drive 
a constant trade in them at Cambondo. When finished with 
hinges, lock, and key, all of their own manufacture, one costs 
only a shilling and eightpence. My men were so delighted with 
them that they carried several of them on their heads all the way 
to Linyanti. 

At Trombeta we were pleased to observe a great deal of taste 
displayed by the sub-commandant in the laying out of his 
ground and adornment of his house with flowers. This trifling- 
incident was the more pleasing, as it was the first attempt at 
'neatness I had seen since leaving the establishment of Mozinkwa 
in Londa. E,ows of trees had been planted along each side of 
the road, with pine-apples and flowers between. This arrange- 
ment I had an opportunity of seeing in several other districts of 
this country, for there is no difliculty in raising any plant or tree 
if it is only kept from being choked by weeds. 

This gentleman had now a fine estate, which but a few years 
ago was a forest, and cost him only £16. He had planted about 
900 coflee-trees upon it, and as these begin to yield in three 
years from being planted, and in six attain their maximum, I 
have no doubt but that ere now his £16 yields him sixty fold. 
All sorts of fruit-trees and grape-vines yield their fruit twice 
in each year, without any labor or irrigation being bestowed on 
them. All grains and vegetables, if only sown, do the same ; and 
if advantage is taken of the mists of winter, even three crops of 
pulse may be raised. Cotton was now standing in the pods in 
his fields, and he did not seem to care about it. I understood 



420 FEAES OF THE MAKOLOLO. 

him to say that this last plant flourishes, but the wet of one of the 
two rainy seasons with which this country is favored sometimes 
proves troublesome to the grower. I am not aware whether wheat 
has ever been tried, but I saw both figs and grapes bearing well. 
The great complaint of all cultivators is the want of a good road 
to carry their produce to market. Here all kinds of food are re- 
markably cheap. 

Farther on we left the mountainous country, and, as we de- 
scended toward the west coast, saw the lands assuming a more 
sterile, uninviting aspect. On our right ran the River Senza, 
which nearer the sea takes the name of Bengo. It is about fifty 
yards broad, and navigable for canoes. The low plains adjacent 
to its banks are protected from inundation by embankments, and 
the population is entirely occupied in raising food and fruits for 
exportation to Loanda by means of canoes. The banks are in- 
fested by myriads of the most ferocious musquitoes I ever met. 
Not one of our party could get a snatch of sleep. I was taken 
into the house of a Portuguese, but was soon glad to make my es- 
cape and lie across the path on the lee side of the fire, where the 
smoke blew over my body. My host wondered at my want of 
taste, and I at his want of feeling ; for, to our astonishment, he 
and the other inhabitants had actually become used to what was 
at least equal to a nail through the heel of one's boot, or the 
tooth-ache. 

As we were now drawing near to the sea, my companions were 
looking at every thing in a serious light. One of them asked me 
if we should all have an opportunity of watching each other at 
Loanda. " Suppose one went for water, would the others see if 
he were kidnapped ?" I replied, " I see what you are driving at ; 
and if you suspect me, you may return, for I am as ignorant of 
Loanda as you are; but nothing will happen to you but what 
happens to myself. We have stood by each other hitherto, and 
will do so to the last." The plains adjacent to Loanda are some- 
what elevated and comparatively sterile. On coming across these 
we first beheld the sea : my companions looked upon the bound- 
less ocean with awe. On describing their feelings afterward, they 
remarked that " we marched along with our father, believing that 
what the ancients had always told us was true, that the world has 
no end ; but aU at once the world said to us, ' I am finished ; 



' WELCOME TO LOANDA. 421 

there is no more of me ! ' " They had always imagined that the 
world was one extended plain without limit. 

They were now somewhat apprehensive of suffering want, and 
I was unable to allay their fears with any promise of supply, for 
my own mind was depressed by disease and care. The fever had 
induced a state of chronic dysentery, so troublesome that I could 
not remain on the ox more than ten minutes at a time ; and as 
we came down the declivity above the city of Loanda on the 31st 
of May, I was laboring under great depression of spirits, as I 
understood that, in a population of twelve thousand souls, there 
was but one genuine English gentleman. I naturally felt anxious 
to know whether he were possessed of good-nature, or was one of 
those crusty mortals one would rather not meet at all. 

This gentleman, Mr. Gabriel, our commissioner for the sup- 
pression of the slave-trade, had kindly forwarded an invitation to 
meet me on the way from Cassange, but, unfortunately, it crossed 
me on the road. When we entered his porch, I was delighted to 
see a number of flowers cultivated carefully, and inferred from 
this circumstance that he was, what I soon discovered him to be, 
a real whole-hearted Englishman. 

Seeing me ill, he benevolently offered me his bed. Never shall 
I forget the luxurious pleasure I enjoyed in feeling myself again 
on a good English couch, after six months' sleeping on the ground. 
I was soon asleep ; and Mr. Gabriel, coming in almost immediate- 
ly, rejoiced at the soundness of my repose. 



422 CONTINUED SICKNESS. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Continued Sickness. — Kindness of the Bishop of Angola and her Majesty's Offi- 
cers. — Mr. Gabriel's unwearied Hospitality. — Serious Deportment of the Mako- 
lolo. — They visit Ships of War. — Politeness of tlie Officers and Men. — The Ma- 
kololo attend Mass in the Cathedral. — Their Eemarks. — Find Employment in 
collecting Firewood and unloading Coal. — Their superior Judgment respecting 
Goods. — Beneficial Influence of the Bishop of Angola. — The City of St. Paul 
de Loanda. — The Harbor. — Custom-house. — No English Merchants. — Sincerity 
of the Portuguese Government in suppressing the Slave-trade. — Convict Soldiers. 
— Presents from Bishop and Merchants for Sekeletu. — Outfit. — Leave Loanda 
20th September, 1854. — Accompanied by Mr. Gabriel as far as Icollo i Bengo. — 
Sugar Manufactory. — Geology of this part of the Country. — ^Women spinning 
Cotton. — Its Price. — Native Weavers.^Market-places. — Cazengo ; its Coffee 
Plantations. — South American' Trees. — Ruins of Iron Foundry. — Native Miners. 
— The Banks of the Lucalla. — Cottages with Stages. — Tobacco-plants. — Town 
of Massangano. — Sugar and Bice. — Superior District for Cotton. — Portuguese 
Merchants and foreign Enterprise. — Ruins. — The Fort and its ancient Guns. — 
Former Importance of Massangano. — Fires. — The Tribe Kisama. — Peculiar Va- 
riety of Domestic Fowl. — Coffee Plantations.— Return to Golungo Alto. — Self- 
complacency of the Makololo. — Fever. — Jaundice. — Insanity. 

In the hope that a short enjoyment of Mr. Gabriel's generous 
hospitality would restore me to my wonted vigor, I continued 
under his roof; but my complaint having been caused by long 
exposure to malarious influences, I became much more reduced 
than ever, even while enjoying rest. Several Portuguese gentle- 
men called on me shortly after my arrival ; and the Bishop of 
Angola, the Eight Eeverend Joaquim Moreira Eeis, then the act- 
ing governor of the province, sent his secretary to do the same, 
and likewise to offer the services of the government physician. 

Some of her majesty's cruisers soon came into the port, and, 
seeing the emaciated condition to which I was reduced, offered to 
convey me to St. Helena or homeward ; but, though I had reached 
the coast, I had found that, in consequence of the great amount 
of forest, rivers, and marsh, there was no possibility of a highway 
for wagons, and I had brought a party of Sekeletu's people wifh 



MAKOLOLO'S VISIT TO SHIPS. 423 

me, and found the tribes near the Portuguese settlement so very 
unfriendly, that it would be altogether impossible for my men to 
return alone. I therefore resolved to decline the tempting offers 
of my naval friends, and take back my Makololo companions to 
their chief, with a view of trying to make a path from his 
country to the east coast by means of the great river Zambesi 
or Leeambye. 

I, however, gladly availed myself of the medical assistance of 
Mr. Cockin, the surgeon of the " Polyphemus," at the suggestion of 
his commander. Captain Phillips. Mr. Cockin's treatment, aided 
by the exhilarating presence of the warm-hearted naval officers, 
and Mr. Gabriel's unwearied hospitality and care, soon brought 
me round again. On the 14th I was so far well as to call on the 
bishop, in company with my party, who were arrayed in new 
robes of striped cotton cloth and red caps, all presented to them 
by Mr. Gabriel. He received us, as head of the provisional gov- 
ernment, in the grand hall of the palace. He put many intelligent 
questions respecting the Makololo, and then gave them free per- 
Tuission to come to Loanda as often as they pleased. This inter- 
view pleased the Makololo extremely. 

Every one remarked the serious deportment of the Makololo. 
They viewed the large stone houses and churches in the vicinity 
of the gTcat ocean with awe. A house with two stories was, until 
now, beyond their comprehension. In explanation of this strange 
thing, I had always been obliged to use the word for hut ; and as 
liuts are constructed by the poles being let into the earth, they 
never could comprehend how the poles of one hut could be found- 
ed upon the roof of another, or how men could live in the upper 
SLory, with the conical roof of the lower one in the middle. Some 
3Iakololo, who had visited my little house at Kolobeng, in trying 
to describe it to their countrymen at Linyanti, said, " It is not a 
hut ; it is a mountain with several caves in it." 

Commander Bedingfeld and Captain Skene invited them to visit 
their vessels, the " Pluto" and " Philomel." Knowing their fears, 
I told them that no one need go if he entertained the least suspi- 
cion of foul play. Nearly the whole party went ; and when on 
deck, I pointed to the sailors, and said, " Now these are all my 
countrymen, sent by our queen for the purpose of putting down 
the trade of those that buy and sell black men." They replied. 



424 MAKOLOLO AT MASS. 

"Truly! they are just like you!" and all their fears seemed to 
vanish at once, for they went forward among the men, and the 
jolly tars, acting much as the Makololo would have done in simi- 
lar circumstances, handed them a share of the bread and beef 
which they had for dinner. The commander allowed them to fire 
off a cannon ; and, having the most exalted ideas of its power, they 
were greatly pleased when I told them, " That is what they put 
down the slave-trade with." The size of the brig-of-war amazed 
them. "It is not a canoe at all; it is a town!" The sailors' 
deck they named "the Kotla ;" and then, as a climax to their de- 
scription of this great ark, added, "And what sort of a town is it 
that you must climb up into with a rope ?" 

The effect of the politeness of the officers and men on their 
minds was most beneficial. They had behaved with the greatest 
kindness to me all the way from Linyanti, and I now rose rapid- 
ly in their estimation ; for, whatever they may have surmised be- 
fore, they now saw that I was respected among my own country- 
men, and always afterward treated me with the greatest deference. 

On the 15th there was a procession and service of the mass in 
the Cathedral ; and, wishing to show my men a place of worship, 
I took them to the church, which now serves as the chief one 
of the see of Angola and Congo. There is an impression on some 
minds that a gorgeous ritual is better calculated to inspire devo- 
tional feelings than the simple forms of the Protestant worship. 
But here the frequent genuflexions, changing of positions, burning 
of incense, with the priests' back turned to the people, the laugh- 
ing, talking, and manifest irreverence of the singers, with firing 
of guns, etc., did not convey to the minds of my men the idea of 
adoration. I overheard them, in talking to each other, remark 
that " they had seen the white men charming their demons ;" a 
phrase identical with one they had used when seeing the Balonda 
beating drums before their idols. 

In the beginning of August I suffered a severe relapse, which 
reduced me to a mere skeleton. I was then unable to attend to 
my men for a considerable time ; but when in convalescence from 
this last attack, I was thankful to find that I was free from that 
lassitude which, in my first recovery, showed the continuance of 
the malaria in the system. I found that my men, without prompt- 
ing, had established a brisk trade in fire-wood. They sallied forth 



THEIK JUDGMENT EESPECTING GOODS. 425 

fit cock-crowing in the mornings, and by daylight reached the 
uncultivated parts of the adjacent country, collected a bundle of 
fire-wood, and returned to the city. It was then divided into 
smaller fagots, and sold to the inhabitants ; and as they gave 
larger quantities than the regular wood-carriers, they found no 
difficulty in selling. A ship freighted with coal for the cruisers 
having arrived from England, Mr. Gabriel procured them employ- 
ment in unloading her at sixpence a day. They continued at this 
work for upward of a month, and nothing could exceed their aston- 
ishment at the vast amount of cargo one ship contained. As they 
themselves always afterward expressed it, they had labored every 
day from sunrise to sunset for a moon and a half, unloading, as 
quickly as they could, " stones that burn," and were tired out, 
still leaving plenty in her. With the money so obtained they 
purchased clothing, beads, and other articles to take back to their 
own country. Their ideas of the value of different kinds of goods 
rather astonished those who had dealt only with natives on the 
coast. Hearing it stated with confidence that the Africans pre- 
ferred the thinnest fabrics, provided they had gaudy colors and a 
large extent of surface, the idea was so new to my experience in 
the interior that I dissented, and, in order to show the superior 
good sense of the Makololo, took them to the shop of Mr. Schut. 
When he showed them the amount of general goods which they 
might procure at Loanda for a single tusk, I requested them, 
without assigning any reason, to point out the fabrics they prized 
most. They all at once selected the strongest pieces of English 
calico and other cloths, showing that they had regard to strength 
without reference to color. I believe that most of the Bechuana 
nation would have done the same. But I was assured that the 
people near the coast, with whom the Portuguese have to deal, 
have not so much regard to durability. This probably arises 
from calico being the chief circulating medium ; quantity being 
then of more importance than quality. 

During the period of my indisposition, the bishop sent fre- 
quently to make inquiries, and, as soon as I was able to walk, I 
went to thank him for his civilities. His whole conversation and 
conduct showed him to be a man of great benevolence and kind- 
ness of heart. Alluding to my being a Protestant, he stated that 
he was a Catholic from conviction ; and though sorry to see others. 



426 ST. PAUL DE LOANDA. 

like myself, following another path, he entertained no uncharitable 
feelings, nor would he ever sanction persecuting measures. He 
compared the various sects of Christians, in their way to heaven, 
to a number of individuals choosing to pass down the different 
streets of Loanda to one of the churches — all would arrive at the 
same point at last. His good influence, both in the city and the 
country, is universally acknowledged : he was promoting the estab- 
lishment of schools, which, though formed more on the monastic 
principle than Protestants might approve, will no doubt be a bless- 
ing. He was likewise successfully attempting to abolish the non- 
raarriage custom of the country; and several marriages had taken 
place in Loanda among those who, but for his teaching, would have 
been content with concubinage. 

St. Paul de Loanda has been a very considerable city, but is 
now in a state of decay. It contains about twelve thousand in- 
habitants, most of whom are people of color.* There are various 
evidences of its former magnificence, especially two cathedrals, 
one of which, once a Jesuit college, is now converted into a work- 
shop ; and in passing the other, we saw with sorrow a number of 
oxen feeding within its stately walls. Three forts continue in a 
good state of repair. Many large stone houses are to be found. 
The palace of the governor and government offices are commodious 
structures, but nearly all the houses of the native inhabitants are 
of wattle and daub. Trees are planted all over the town for the 
sake of shade, and the city presents an imposing appearance from 
the sea. It is provided with an effective police, and the custom- 
house department is extremely well managed. All parties agree 
in representing the Portuguese authorities as both polite and 
obliging ; and if ever any inconvenience is felt by strangers visit- 
ing the port, it must be considered the fault of the system, and 
not of the men. 

The harbor is formed by the low, sandy island of Loanda, 
which is inhabited by about 1300 souls, upward of 600 of whom 
are industrious native fishermen, who supply the city with abun- 

* From the census of 1850-51 we find the population of this city arranged thus : 
830 whites, only 160 of whom are females. This is the largest collection of whites 
in the country, for Angola itself contains only about 1000 whites. There are 2400 
half-castes in Loanda, and only 1 20 of them slaves ; and there are 9000 blacks, 
more than 5000 of whom are slaves. 



CUSTOM-HOUSE AERANGEMENTS. 429 

dance of good fish daily. The space between it and the main 
land, on which the city is built, is the station for ships. When 
a high southwest wind blows, the waves of the ocean dash over 
part of the island, and, driving large quantities of sand before 
them, gradually fill up the harbor. Great quantities of soil are 
also washed in the rainy season from the heights above the city, 
so that the port, which once contained water sufficient to float the 
largest ships close to the custom-house, is now at low water dry. 
The ships are compelled to anchor about a mile north of their old 
station. Nearly all the water consumed in Loanda is brought from 
the Eiver Bengo by means of launches, the only supply that the 
city affords being from some deep wells of slightly brackish water. 
Unsuccessful attempts have been made by different governors to 
finish a canal, which the Dutch, while in possession of Loanda 
during the seven years preceding 1648, had begun, to bring 
water from the River Coanza to the city. There is not a single 
English merchant at Loanda, and only two American. This is 
the more remarkable, as nearly all the commerce is carried on 
by means of English calico brought hither via Lisbon. Several 
English houses attempted to establish a trade about 1845, and 
accepted bills on Rio de Janeiro in payment for their goods, but 
the increased activity of our cruisers had such an effect upon the 
mercantile houses of that city that most of them failed. The En- 
glish merchants lost all, and Loanda got a bad name in the com- 
mercial world in consequence. 

One of the arrangements of the custom-house may have had 
some influence in preventing English trade. Ships coming here 
must be consigned to some one on the spot ; the consignee re- 
ceives one hundred dollars per mast, and he generally makes a 
great deal more for himself by putting a percentage on boats and 
men hired for loading and unloading, and on every item that 
passes through his hands. The port charges are also rendered 
lieavy by twenty dollars being charged as a perquisite of the sec- 
retary of government, with a fee for the chief physician, some- 
thing for the hospital, custom-house officers, guards, etc., etc. But, 
with all these drawbacks, the Americans carry on a brisk and prof- 
itable trade in calico, biscuit, flour, butter, etc., etc. 

The Portuguese home government has not generally received 
the credit for sincerity in suppressing the slave-trade whicli I 



430 CONVICT SOLDIERS. 

conceive to be its due. In 1839, my friend Mr. Gabriel saw 37 
slave-sbips lying in this harbor, waiting for their cargoes, under 
the protection of the guns of the forts. At that time slavers had 
to wait many months at a time for a human freight, and a certain 
sum per head was paid to the government for all that were ex- 
ported. The duties derived from the exportation of slaves far 
exceeded those from other commerce, and, by agreeing to the 
suppression of this profitable traffic, the government actually sac- 
rificed the chief part of the export revenue. Since that period, 
however, the revenue from lawful commerce has very much ex- 
ceeded that on slaves. The intentions of the home Portuguese 
government, however good, can not be fully carried out under the 
present system. The pay of the officers is so very small that 
they are nearly all obliged to engage in trade; and, owing to the 
lucrative nature of the slave-trade, the temptation to engage in it 
is so powerful, that the philanthropic statesmen of Lisbon need 
hardly expect to have their humane and enlightened views car- 
ried out. The law, for instance, lately promulgated for the abo- 
lition of the carrier system (carregadores) is but one of several 
equally humane enactments against this mode of compulsory la- 
bor, but there is very little probability of the benevolent inten- 
tions of the Legislature being carried into effect. 

Loanda is regarded somewhat as a penal settlement, and those 
who leave their native land for this country do so with the hope 
of getting rich in a few years, and then returning home. They 
have thus no motive for seeking the permanent welfare of the 
country. The Portuguese law preventing the subjects of any 
other nation from holding landed property unless they become 
naturalized, the country, has neither the advantage of native nor 
foreign enterprise, and remains very much in the same state as 
our allies found it in 1575. Nearly all the European soldiers 
sent out are convicts, and, contrary to what might be expected 
from men in their position, behave remarkably well. A few riots 
have occurred, but nothing at all so serious as ^ave taken place 
in our own penal settlements. It is a remarkable fact that the 
whole of the arms of Loanda are every night in the hands of tK6se 
who have been convicts. Various reasons for this mild behavior 
are assigned by the officers, but none of these, when viewed in 
connection with our own experience in Australia, appear to be 



PEESENTS FOR SEKELETU. 431 

valid. Religion seems to have no connection with the change. 
Perhaps the climate may have some influence in subduing their 
turbulent disposition, for the inhabitants generally are a timid 
race ; they are not half so brave as our CafFres. The people of 
Ambriz ran away like a flock of sheep, and allowed the Portu- 
guese to take possession of their copper mines and country with- 
out striking a blow. If we must have convict settlements, atten- 
tion to the climate might be of advantage in the selection. Plerc 
even bulls are much tamer than with us. I never met with a fe- 
rocious one in this country, and the Portuguese use them general- 
ly for riding ; an ox is seldom seen. 

The objects which I had in view in opening up the country, as 
stated in a few notes of my journey, published in the newspapers 
of Angola, so commended themselves to the general government 
and merchants of Loanda, that, at the instance of his excellency 
the bishop, a handsome present for Sekeletu was granted by the 
Board of Public Works (Junta da Fazenda Publica). It consist- 
ed of a colonel's complete uniform and a horse for the chief, and 
suits of clothing for all the men who accompanied me. The mer- 
chants also made a present, by public subscription, of handsome 
specimens of all their articles of trade, and two donkeys, for the 
purpose of introducing the breed into his country, as tsetse can 
not kill this beast of burden. These presents were accompanied 
by letters from the bishop and merchants ; and I was kindly fa- 
vored with letters of recommendation to the Portuguese authori- 
ties in Eastern Africa. 

I took with me a good stock of cotton cloth, fresh supplies of 
ammunition and beads, and gave each of my men a musket. As 
my companions had amassed considerable quantities of goods, 
they were unable to carry mine, but the bishop furnished me with 
twenty carriers, and sent forward orders to all the commandants 
of the districts through which we were to pass to render me ev- 
ery assistance in their power. Being now supplied with a good 
new tent made b}> my friends on board the Philomel, we left Lo- 
anda on the 20th of September, 1854, and passed round by sea to 
th ; mouth of the River Bengo. Ascending this river, we went 
through the district in which stand the ruins of the convent of 
St. Antonio ; thence into IcoUo i Bengo, which contains a popula- 
tion of 6530 blacks, 172 mulattoes, and 11 whites, and is so 



432 SUGAR MANUFACTORY.— GEOLOGY. 

named from having been the residence of a former native king. 
The proportion of slaves is only 3 "38 per cent, of the inhabitants. 
The commandant of this place, Laurence Jose Marquis, is a frank 
old soldier and a most hospitable man ; he is one of the few who 
secure the universal approbation of their fellow-men for stern, un- 
flinching honesty, and has risen from the ranks to be a major in 
the army. We were accompanied thus far by our generous host, 
Edmund Gabriel, Esq., who, by his unwearied attentions to my- 
self, and liberality in supporting my men, had become endeared to 
all our hearts. My men were strongly impressed with a sense of 
his goodness, and often spoke of him in terms of admiration all 
the way to Linyanti. 

While here we visited a large sugar manufactory belonging to 
a lady. Donna Anna da Sousa. The flat alluvial lands on the 
banks of the Senza or Bengo are well adapted for raising sugar- 
cane, and this lady had a surprising number of slaves, but some- 
how the establishment was far from being in a flourishing condi- 
tion. It presented such a contrast to the free-labor establishments 
of the Mauritius, which I have since seen, where, with not one 
tenth of the number of hands, or such good soil, a man of color 
had, in one year, cleared £5000 by a single crop, that I quote the 
fact, in hopes it may meet the eye of Donna Anna. 

The water of the river is muddy, and it is observed that such 
rivers have many more musquitoes than those which have clear 
water. It was remarked to us here that these insects are much 
more numerous at the period of new moon than at other times ; at 
any rate, we were all thankful to get away from the Senza and its 
insect plagues. 

The whole of this part of the country is composed of marly 
tufa, containing the same kind of shells as those at present alive 
in the seas. As we advanced eastward and ascended the higher 
lands, we found eruptive trap, which had tilted up immense 
masses of mica and sandstone schists. The mica schist almost 
always dipped toward the interior of the country, forming those 
mountain ranges of which we have already spoken as giving a 
highland character to the district of Golungo Alto. The trap 
has frequently run through the gorges made in the upheaved 
rocks, and at the points of junction between the igneous and 
older rocks there are large quantities of strongly magnetic iron 



SPINNING AND WEAVING 433 

ore. The clayey soil formed by the disintegration of the mica 
schist and trap is the favorite soil for the coffee ; and it is on these 
mountain sides, and others possessing a similar red clay soil, that 
this plant has propagated itself so widely. The meadow- lands 
adjacent to the Senza and Coanza being underlaid by that marly 
tufa which abounds toward the coast, and containing the same 
shells, show that, previous to the elevation of that side of the coun- 
try, this region possessed some deeply-indented bays. 

28^/i September^ Kalungwembo. — We were still on the same 
path by which we had come, and, there being no musquitoes, we 
could now better enjoy the scenery. Ranges of hills occupy both 
sides of our path, and the fine level road is adorned with a beau- 
tiful red flower named Bolcaraaria. The markets or sleeping- 
places are well supplied with provisions by great numbers of 
women, every one of whom is seen spinning cotton with a spindle 
and distaff, exactly like those which were in use among the an- 
cient Egyptians. A woman is scarcely ever seen going to the 
fields, though with a pot on her head, a child on her back, and 
the hoe over her shoulder, but she is employed in this way. The 
cotton was brought to the market for sale, and I bought a pound 
for a penny. This was the price demanded, and probably double 
what they ask from each other. We saw the cotton growing lux- 
uriantly all around the market-places from seeds dropped acci- 
dentally. It is seen also about the native huts, and, so far as I 
could learn, it was the American cotton, so influenced by climate 
as to be perennial. We met in the road natives passing with bun- 
dles of cops, or spindles full of cotton thread, and these they were 
carrying to other parts to be woven into cloth. The women are 
the spinners, and the men perform the weaving. Each web is 
about 5 feet long, and 15 or 18 inches wide. The loom is of the 
simplest construction, being nothing but two beams placed one 
over the other, the web standing perpendicularly. The threads of 
the web are separated by means of a thin wooden lath, and the 
woof passed through by means of the spindle on which it has been 
wound in spinning. 

The mode of spinning and weaving in Angola, and, indeed, 
throughout South Central Africa, is so very like the same occu- 
pations in the hands of the ancient Egyptians, that I introduce 
a woodcut from the interesting Avork of Sir Gardner Wilkinson. 

Ee 



434 



CHEAPNESS OF LABOR. 



The lower figures are engaged in spinning in the real African 
method, and the weavers in the left-hand corner have their web in 
the Angolese fashion. 




Ancient Spinning and Weaving, perpetuated in Africa at the present day. 
From Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians," p. 85, 86. 

Numbers of other articles are brought for sale to these sleeping- 
places. The native smiths there carry on their trade. I bought 
ten very good table-knives, made of country iron, for twopence 
each. 

Labor is extremely cheap, for I was assured that even carpen- 
ters, masons, smiths, etc., might be hired for fourpence a day, and 
agriculturists would gladly work for half that sum.* 

* In order that the reader may understand the social position of the people of 
this country, I here give the census of the district of Golungo Alto for the year 
1854, though the numbers are evidently not all furnished: 



i 



238 householders or yeomen. 
4224 patrons, or head men of sev- 
eral hamlets. 
23 native chiefs or sovas. 
292 macotas or councilors. 
5838 carriers. 
126 carpenters. 
72 masons. 



300 shoemakers. 
181 potters. 

25 tailors. 

12 barbers. 
206 iron-founders. 
486 bellovrs-blowers. 
586 coke-makers. 
173 iron-miners. 



COFFEE PLANTATIONS. 435 

Being anxious to obtain some more knowledge of this inter- 
esting country and its ancient missionary establishments than the 
line of route by which we had come afforded, I resolved to visit 
the town of Massangano, which is situated to the south of Golungo 
Alto, and at the confluence of the rivers Lucalla and Coanza. 
This led me to pass through the district of Cazengo, which is 
rather famous for the abundance and excellence of its coffee. 
Extensive coffee plantations were found to exist on the sides of 
the several lofty mountains that compose this district. They 
were not planted by the Portuguese. The Jesuit and other mis- 
sionaries are known to have brought some of the fine old Mocha 
seed, and these have propagated themselves far and wide ; hence 
the excellence of the Angola coffee. Some have asserted that, as 
new plantations were constantly discovered even during the pe- 
riod of our visit, the coffee-tree was indigenous ; but the fact 
that pine-apples, bananas, yams, orange-trees, custard apple-trees, 
pitangas, guavas, and other South American trees, were found by 
me in the same localities with the recently-discovered coffee, 
would seem to indicate that all foreign trees must have been 



184 soldiers of militia. 
3603 privileged gentlemen, i. e., who 
ma)' wear boots. 
18 vagabonds. 
717 old men. 
64 blind men and women. 
81 lame men and women. 
770 slave men. 
807 slave women. 



9578 free women. 

393 possessors of land. 

300 female gardeners. 

139 hunters of wild animals. 

980 smiths. 

314 mat-makers. 
4065 males under 7 j-ears of age. 
6012 females under 7 years of age. 



These people possess 300 idol-houses, 600 sheep, 6000 goats, 500 oxen, 398 gar- 
dens, 25,120 hearths. The authorities find great difficulty in getting the people 
to furnish a correct account of their numbers. This census is quoted merely for 
the purpose of giving a general idea of the employments of the inhabitants. 

The following is taken from the census of IcoUo i Bengo, and is added for a sim- 
ilar reason : 

8232 living without the marriage tie. 
(All those who have not been 
married by a priest are so dis- 
tinguished.) 
4 orphans — 2 black and 2 white. 
9 native chiefs. 



21 potters. 

11 tailors. 

2 shoemakers. 

3 barbers. 
5 mat-makers. 

12 sack-makers. 
21 basket-makers. 



2 carpenters. 

The cattle in the district are: 10 asses, 401 oxen, 492 cows, 3933 sheep, 1699 
goats, 909 swine ; and as an annual tax is levied of sixpence per head on all stock, 
it is probable that the returns are less than the reality. 



436 EUINS OF lEON EOUNDEY. 

introduced by the same agency. It is known that the Jesuits 
also introduced many other trees for the sake of their timlber 
alone. Numbers of these have spread over the country, some 
have probably died out, and others failed to spread, like a lonely 
specimen which stands in what was the Botanic Garden of Lo- 
anda, and, though most useful in yielding a substitute for frank- 
incense, is the only one of the kind in Africa. 

A circumstance which would facilitate the extensive propagation 
of the coffee on the proper clay soil is this : The seed, when buried 
beneath the soil, generally dies, while that which is sown broad- 
cast, with no covering except the shade of the trees, vegetates 
readily. The agent in sowing in this case is a bird, which eats 
the outer rind, and throws the kernel on the ground. This plant 
can not bear the direct rays of the sun ; consequently, when a num- 
ber of the trees are discovered in the forest, all that is necessary is 
to clear away the brushwood, and leave as many of the tall forest- 
trees as will afford good shade to the coffee-plants below. The 
fortunate discoverer has then a flourishing coffee plantation. 

This district, small though it be, having only a population of 
13,822, of whom ten only are white, nevertheless yields an annual 
tribute to the government of thirteen hundred cotton cloths, each 
5 feet by 18 or 20 inches, of their own growth and manufacture. 

Accompanied by the commandant of Cazengo, who was well 
acquainted with this part of the country, I proceeded in a canoe 
down the River Lucalla to Massangano. This river is about 85 
yards wide, and navigable for canoes from its confluence wdth 
the Coanza to about six miles above the point where it receives 
the Luinha. Near this latter point stand the strong, massive 
ruins of an iron foundry, erected in the times (1768) and by 
the order of the famous Marquis of Pombal. The whole of 
the buildings were constructed of stone, cemented with oil and 
lime. The dam for water-power was made of the same materials, 
and 27 feet high. This had been broken through by a flood, and 
solid blocks, many yards in length, were carried down the stream, 
affording an instructive example of the transporting power of 
watei'. There was nothing in the appearance of the place to in- 
dicate unhealthiness ; but eight Spanish and Swedish workmen, 
being brought hither for the purpose of instructing the natives in 
the art of smelting iron, soon fell victims to disease and " irregu- 



BANKS OF THE LUCALLA. 437 

lai'ities." The effort of the marquis to improve the mode of 
manufacturing iron was thus rendered abortive. Labor and sub- 
sistence are, however, so very cheap that almost any amount of 
work can be executed, at a cost that renders expensive establish- 
ments unnecessary. 

A party of native miners and smiths is still kept in the employ- 
ment of the government, who, working the rich black magnetic 
iron ore, produce for the government from 480 to 500 bars of 
good malleable iron every month. They are supported by the ap- 
propriation of a few thousands of a small fresh-water fish, called 
" Cacusu," a portion of the tax levied upon the fishermen of the 
Coanza. This fish is so much relished in the country that those 
who do not wish to eat them can easily convert them into money. 
The commandant of the district of Massangano, for instance, has 
a right to a dish of three hundred every morning, as part of his 
salary. Shell-fish are also found in the Coanza, and the "Peixe- 
mulher," or woman-fish of the Portuguese, which is probably a 
Manatee. 

The banks of the Lucalla are very pretty, well planted with 
orange-trees, bananas, and the palm [^IceisGuineensis) which yields 
the oil of commerce. Large plantations of maize, manioc, and to- 
bacco are seen along both banks, which are enlivened by the fre- 
quent appearance of native houses imbosomed in dense shady 
groves, with little boys and girls playing about them. The banks 
are steep, the water having cut out its bed in dark red alluvial 
soil. Before every cottage a small stage is erected, to which the 
inhabitants may descend to draw water without danger from the 
alligators. Some have a little palisade made in the water for 
safety from these reptiles, and others use the shell of the fruit of 
the baobab-tree attached to a pole about ten feet long, with which, 
while standing on the high bank, they may draw water without 
fear of accident. 

Many climbing plants run up the lofty silk, cotton, and baobab 
trees, and hang their beautiful flowers in gay festoons on the 
branches. As we approach Massangano, the land on both banks 
of the Lucalla becomes very level, and large portions are left 
marshy after the annual floods ; but all is very fertile. As an il- 
lustration of the strength of the soil, I may state that we saw to- 
bacco-plants in gardens near the confluence eight feet high, and 



438 MASSANGANO. 

each plant had thirty-six leaves, which were eighteen inches long 
by six or eight inches broad. But it is not a pastoral district. In 
our descent we observed the tsetse, and consequently the people 
had no domestic animals save goats. 

We found the town of Massangano on a tongue of rather high 
land, formed by the left bank of the Lucalla and right bank of 
the Coanza, and received true Portuguese hospitality from Senhor 
Lubata. The town has more than a thousand inhabitants ; the 
district has 28,063, with only 315 slaves. It stands on a mound 
of calcareous tufa, containing great numbers of fossil shells, the 
most recent of which resemble those found in the marly tufa close 
to the coast. The fort stands on the south side of the town, on 
a high perpendicular bank overhanging the Coanza. This river 
is here a noble stream, about a hundred and fifty yards wide, ad- 
mitting navigation in large canoes from the bar at its mouth to 
Cambambe, some thirty miles above this town. There, a fine 
waterfall hinders farther ascent. Ten or twelve large canoes laden 
with country produce pass Massangano every day. Four galleons 
were constructed here as long ago as 1650, which must have been 
of good size, for they crossed the ocean to Rio Janeiro. 

Massangano district is well adapted for sugar and rice, while 
Cambambe is a very superior field for cotton ; but the bar at the 
mouth of the Coanza would prevent the approach of a steamer 
into this desirable region, though a small one could ply on it with 
ease when once in. It is probable that the objects of those who 
attempted to make a canal from Calumbo to Loando were not 
merely to supply that city with fresh water, but to afford facilities 
for transportation. The remains of the canal show it to have been 
made on a scale suited for the Coanza canoes. The Portuguese 
began another on a smaller scale in 1811, and, after three years' 
labor, had finished only 6000 yards. Nothing great or useful will 
ever be effected here so long as men come merely to get rich, and 
then return to Portugal. 

The latitude of the town and fort of Massangano is 9° 37^46^'' 
S., being nearly the same as that of Cassange. The country be- 
tween Loanda and this point being comparatively flat, a railroad 
might be constructed at small expense. The level country is 
prolonged along the north bank of the Coanza to the edge of 
the Cassange basin, and a railway carried thither would be con- 



RUINS.— THE PORT. 439 

venient for the transport of the products of the rich districts of 
Cassange, Pungo Andongo, Ambaca, Cambambe, Golungo Alto, 
Cazengo, Muchima, and Calumbo ; in a word, the whole of Angola 
and independent tribes adjacent to this kingdom. 

The Portuguese merchants generally look to foreign enter- 
prise and to their own government for the means by which 
this amelioration might be effected ; but, as I always stated to 
them when conversing on the subject, foreign capitalists would 
never run the risk, unless they saw the Angolese doing something 
for themselves, and the laws so altered that the subjects of other 
nations should enjoy the same privileges in the country with 
themselves. The government of Portugal has indeed shown a 
wise and liberal policy by its permission for the alienation of 
the crown lands in Angola ; but the law giving it effect is so 
fenced round with limitations, and so deluged with verbiage, 
that to plain people it seems any thing but a straightforward 
license to foreigners to become hona fide landholders and culti- 
vators of the soil. At present the tolls paid on the different lines 
of roads for ferries and bridges are equal to the interest of large 
sums of money, though but a small amount has been expended in 
making available roads. 

There are two churches and a hospital in ruins at Massangano ; 
and the remains of two convents are pointed out, one of which is 
said to have been an establishment of black Benedictines, which, 
if successful, considering the materials the brethren had to work 
on, must have been a laborious undertaking. There is neither 
priest nor schoolmaster in the town, but I was pleased to observe 
a number of children taught by one of the inhabitants. The 
cultivated lands attached to all these conventual establishments 
in Angola are now rented by the government of Loanda, and 
thither the bishop lately removed all the gold and silver vessels 
belonging to them. 

The fort of Massangano is small, but in good repair ; it contains 
some very ancient guns, which were loaded from the breech, and 
must have been formidable weapons in their time. The natives 
of this country entertain a remarkable dread of great guns, and 
this tends much to the permanence of the Portuguese authority. 
They dread a cannon greatly, though the carriage be so rotten 
that it would fall to pieces at the first shot ; the fort of Pungo 



440 FIRES.— THE KISAMAS. 

Andongo is kept securely by cannon perched on cross sticks 
alone ! 

Massangano was a very important town at the time the Dutch 
held forcible possession ofLoanda and part of Angola; but when, 
in the year 1648, the Dutch were expelled from this country by a 
small body of Portuguese, under the Governor Salvador Correa 
de Sa Benevides, Massangano was left to sink into its present 
decay. Since it was partially abandoned by the Portuguese, 
several baobab-trees have sprung up and attained a diameter of 
eighteen or twenty inches, and are about twenty feet high. No 
certain conclusion can be drawn from these instances, as it is not 
known at what time after 1648 they began to grow; but their 
present size shows that their growth is not unusually slow. 

Several fires occurred during our stay, by the thatch having, 
through long exposure to a torrid sun, become like tinder. The 
roofs became ignited without any visible cause except the intense 
solar rays, and excited terror in the minds of the inhabitants, as 
the slightest spark carried by the wind would have set the whole 
town in a blaze. There is not a single inscription on stone visible 
in Massangano. If destroyed to-morrow, no one could tell where 
it and most Portuguese interior villages stood, any more than we 
can do those of the Balonda. 

During the occupation of this town the Coanza was used for 
the purpose of navigation, but their vessels were so frequently 
plundered by their Dutch neighbors that, when they regained the 
good port of Loanda, they no longer made use of the river. We 
remained here four days, in hopes of obtaining an observation for 
the longitude, but at this season of the year the sky is almost 
constantly overcast by a thick canopy of clouds of a milk-and- 
water hue ; this continues until the rainy season (which was now 
close at hand) commences. 

The lands on the north side of the Coanza belong to the 
Quisamas (Kisamas), an independent tribe, which the Portuguese 
have not been able to subdue. The few who came under my 
observation possessed much of the Bushman or Hottentot feature, 
and were dressed in strips of soft bark hanging from the waist to 
the knee. They deal largely in salt, which their country pro- 
duces in great abundance. It is brought in crystals of about 
12 inches long and 1^ in diameter. This is hawked about every 



DOMESTIC POWL. 441 

where in Angola, and, next to calico, is the most common medium 
of barter. The Kisama are brave ; and when the Portuguese 
army followed them into their forests, they reduced the invaders 
to extremity by tapping all the reservoirs of water, which were no 
other than the enormous baobabs of the country hollowed into 
cisterns. As the Kisama country is ill supplied with water other- 
wise, the Portuguese were soon obliged to retreat. Their country, 
lying near to Massangano, is low and marshy, but becomes more 
elevated in the distance, and beyond them lie the lofty dark 
mountain ranges of the LiboUo, another powerful and independent 
people. Near Massangano I observed what seemed to be an 
effort of nature to furnish a variety of domestic fowls, more 
capable than the common kind of bearing the heat of the sun. 
This was a hen and chickens with all their feathers curled up- 
ward, thus giving shade to the body without increasing the 
heat. They are here named " Kisafu" by the native population, 
who pay a high price for them when they wish to offer them 
as a sacrifice, and by the Portuguese they are termed "Arri- 
piada," or shivering. There seems to be a tendency in nature 
to afford varieties adapted to the convenience of man. A kind 
of very short-legged fowl among the Boers was obtained, in con- 
sequence of observing that such were more easily caught for 
transportation in their frequent removals in search of pasture. 
A similar instance of securing a variety occurred with the short- 
limbed sheep in America. 

Returning by ascending the Lucalla into Cazengo, we had an 
opportunity of visiting several flourishing coffee plantations, and 
observed that several men, who had begun with no capital but 
honest industry, had, in the course of a few years, acquired a com- 
fortable subsistence. One of these, Mr. Pinto, generously furnish- 
ed me with a good supply of his excellent coffee, and my men 
with a breed of rabbits to carry to their own country. Their 
lands, granted by government, yielded, without much labor, cof- 
fee sufficient for all the necessaries of life. 

The fact of other avenues of wealth opening up so readily seems 
like a providential invitation to forsake the slave-trade and engage 
in lawful commerce. We saw the female population occupied, as 
usual, in the spinning of cotton and cultivation of their lands. 



442 



INDUSTEIAL EMPLOYMENTS.— FEVER. 



Their only instrument for culture is a double-handled hoe, which 
is worked with a sort of dragging motion. Many of the men 




Double-handled Angola hoe. 

were employed in weaving. The latter appear to he less indus- 
trious than the former, for they require a month to finish a single 
web. There is, however, not much inducement to industry, for, 
notwithstanding the time consumed in its manufacture, each web 
is sold for only two shillings. 

On returning to Golungo Alto I found several of my men laid 
up with fever. One of the reasons for my leaving them there 
was that they might recover from the fatigue of the journey from 
Loanda, which had much more eifect upon their feet than hund- 
reds of miles had on our way westward. They had always been 
accustomed to moisture in their own well-watered land, and we 
certainly had a superabundance of that in Loanda. The roads, 
however, from Loanda to Golungo Alto were both hard and dry, 
and they suffered severely in consequence ; yet they were com- 
posing songs to be sung when they should reach home.. The 
Argonauts were nothing to them ; and they remarked very im- 
pressively to me, "It was well you came with Makololo, for no 
tribe could have done what we have accomplished in coming to 
the white man's country : we are the true ancients, who can tell 
wonderful things." Two of them now had fever in the continued 
form, and became jaundiced, the whites or conjunctival membrane 
of their eyes becoming as yellow as saffron ; and a third suffered 
from an attack of mania. He came to his companions one day, 



INSANITY. 



443 



and said, "Eemain well. I am called away by the gods!" and 
set off at the top of his speed. The young men caught him before 
he had gone a mile, and bound him. By gentle treatment and 
watching for a few days he recovered. I have observed several 
instances of this kind in the country, but very few cases of idiocy, 
and I believe that continued insanity is rare. 



444 DESERTED CONVENT. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Visit a deserted Convent. — Favorable Eeport of Jesuits and their Teaching. — Gra- 
dations of native Society. — Punishment of Thieves. — Palm-toddy ; its baneful 
EiFects. — Freemasons. — Marriages and Funei-als. — Litigation. — Mr. Canto's Ill- 
ness. — Bad Behavior of his Slaves. — An Entertainment. — Ideas on Free Labor. — 
Loss of American Cotton-seed. — Abundance of Cotton in the country. — Sickness 
of Sekeletu's Horse. — Eclipse of the Sun. — Insects which distill Water. — Experi- 
ments with them. — Proceed to Ambapa. — Sickly Season. — Office of Commandant. 
— Punishment of official Delinquents. — Present from Mr. Schut of Loanda. — Visir 
Pungo Andongo. — Its good Pasturage, Grain, Fruit, etc. — The Fort aud columnar 
Rocks. — The Queen of Jinga. — Salubrity of Pungo Andongo. — Price of a Slave. — 
A Merchant-prince. — His Hospitality. — Hear of the Loss of my Papers in " Fore- 
runner." — Narrow Escape from an Alligator. — Ancient Burial-places. — Neglecl 
of Agriculture in Angola. — Manioc the staple Product. — Its Cheapness. — Sickness. 
— Friendly Visit fi'om a colored Priest. — The Prince of Congo. — No Priests in the 
Interior of Angola, 

While waiting for the recovery of my men, I visited, in com- 
pany with my friend Mr. Canto, the deserted convent of St. 
Hilarion, at Bango, a few miles northwest of Golungo Alto. It 
is situated in a magnificent valley, containing a population num- 
bering 4000 hearths. This is the abode of the Sova, or Chief 
Bango, who still holds a place of authority under the Portuguese. 
The garden of the convent, the church, and dormitories of the 
brethren are still kept in a good state of repair. I looked at the 
furniture, couches, and large chests for holding the provisions of 
the brotherhood with interest, and would fain have learned some- 
thing of the former occupants ; but all the books and sacred 
vessels had lately been removed to Loanda, and even the graves 
of the good men stand without any record : their resting-places 
are, however, carefully tended. All speak well of the Jesuits 
and other missionaries, as the Capuchins, etc., for having attended 
diligently to the instruction of the children. They were supposed 
to have a tendency to take the part of the people against the 
government, and were supplanted' by priests, concerning whom 
no regret is expressed that they were allowed to die out. In 



GEADATIONS OF SOCIETY. 445 

viewing the present fruits of former missions, it is impossible not 
to feel assured that, if the Jesuit teaching has been so permanent, 
that of Protestants, who leave the Bible in the hands of their con- 
verts, will not be less abiding. The chief Bango has built a large 
two-story house close by the convent, but superstitious fears pre- 
vent him from sleeping in it. The Portuguese take advantage 
of all the gradations into which native society has divided itself. 
This man, for instance, is still a sova or chief, has his councilors, 
and maintains the same state as when the country w^as independ- 
ent. When any of his people are guilty of theft, he pays down 
the amount of goods stolen at once, and reimburses himself out 
of the property of the thief so effectually as to be benefited by the 
transaction. The people under him are divided into a number of 
classes. There are his councilors, as the highest, who are gener- 
ally head men of several villages, and the carriers, the lowest free 
men. One class above the last obtains the privilege of wearing 
shoes from the chief by paying for it ; another, the soldiers or 
militia, pay for the privilege of serving, the advantage being that 
they are not afterward liable to be made carriers. They are also 
divided into gentlemen and little gentlemen, and, though quite 
black, speak of themselves as white men, and of the others, who 
may not wear shoes, as "blacks." The men of all these classes 
trust to their wives for food, and spend most of their time in drink- 
ing the palm-toddy. This toddy is the juice of the palm-oil-tree 
{Elceis Guineensis), which, when tapped, yields a sweet, clear 
liquid, not at all intoxicating while fresh, but, when allowed to 
stand till the afternoon, causes inebriation and many crimes. This 
toddy, called malova, is the bane of the country. Culprits are 
continually brought before the commandants for assaults commit- 
ted through its influence. Men come up with deep gashes on 
their heads ; and one, who had burned his father's house, I saw 
making a profound bow to Mr. Canto, and volunteering to explain 
why he did the deed. 

There is also a sort of fraternity of freemasons, named Em- 
pacasseiros, into which no one is admitted unless he is an expert 
hunter, and can shoot well with the gun. They are distinguish- 
ed by a fillet of buffalo hide around their heads, and are employed 
as messengers in all cases requiring express. They are very trust- 
worthy, and, when on active service, form the best native troops 



446 MAKEIAGES AND FUNEEALS. 

the Portuguese possess. Tlie militia' are of no value as soldiers, 
but cost the country nothing, being supported hy their wives. 
Their duties are chiefly to guard the residences of commandants, 
and to act as police. 

The chief recreations of the natives of Angola are marriages 
and funerals. When a young woman is about to be married, she 
is placed in a hut alone and anointed with various unguents, arid 
many incantations are employed in order to secure good fortune 
and fruitfulness. Here, as almost every where in the south, the 
height of good fortune is to bear sons. They often leave a hus- 
band altogether if they have daughters only. In their dances, 
when any one may wish to deride another, in the accompanying- 
song a line- is introduced, " So and so has no children, and never 
will get any." She feels the insult so keenly that it is not un- 
common for her to rush away and commit suicide. After some 
days the bride elect is taken to another hut, and adorned with all 
the richest clothing and ornaments that the relatives can either 
lend or borrow. She is then placed in a public situation, saluted 
as a lady, and presents made by all her acquaintances are placed 
around her. After this she is taken to the residence of her hus- 
band, where she has a hut for herself, and becomes one of several 
wives, for polygamy is general. Dancing, feasting, and drinking 
on such occasions are prolonged for several days. In case of sep- 
aration, the woman returns to her father's family, and the husband 
receives back what he gave for her. In nearly all cases a man 
gives a price for the wife, and in cases of mulattoes, as much as 
£60 is often given to the parents of the bride. This is one of the 
evils the bishop was trying to remedy. 

In cases of death the body is kept several days, and there is a 
grand concourse of both sexes, with beating of drums, dances, 
and debauchery, kept up with feasting, etc., according to the 
means of the relatives. The great ambition of many of the blacks 
of Angola is to give their friends an expensive funeral. Often, 
when one is asked to sell a pig, he replies, '^I am keeping it in 
case of the death of any of my friends." A pig is usually slaugh- 
tered and eaten on the last day of the ceremonies, and its head 
thrown into the nearest stream or river. A native will sometimes 
appear intoxicated on these occasions, and, if blamed for his in- 
temperance, will reply, "Why! my mother is dead!" as if he 



MISCONDUCT OF SLAVES. 449 

thought it a sufficient justification. The expenses of funerals 
are so heavy that often years elapse before they can defray 
them. 

These people are said to be very litigious and obstinate : con- 
stant disputes are taking place respecting their lands. A case 
came before the weekly court of the commandant involving prop- 
erty in a palm-tree worth twopence. The judge advised the pur- 
suer to withdraw the case, as the mere expenses of entering it 
would be much more than the cost of the tree. " Oh no," said 
he ; "I have a piece of calico with me for the clerk, and money 
for yourself. It's my right ; I will not forego it." The calico 
itself cost three or four shillings. They rejoice if they can say of 
an enemy, "I took him before the court." 

My friend Mr. Canto, the commandant, being seized with fever 
in a severe form, it afforded me much pleasure to attend hhn in 
his sickness, who had been so kind to me, in mine. He was for 
some time in a state of insensibility, and I, having the charge of 
his establishment, had thus an opportunity of observing the work- 
ings of slavery. When a master is ill, the slaves run riot among 
the eatables. I did not know this until I observed that every 
time the sugar-basin came to the table it was empty. On visiting 
my patient by night, I passed along a corridor, and unexpectedly 
came upon the washerwoman eating pine-apples and sugar. All 
the sweetmeats wxre devoured, and it was difBcult for me to get 
even bread and butter until I took the precaution of locking the 
pantry door. Probably the slaves thought that, as both they and 
the luxuries were the master's property, there was no good reason 
why they should be kept apart. 

Debarred by my precaution from these sources of enjoyment, 
they took to killing the fowls and goats, and, when the animal was 
dead, brought it to me, saying, "We found this thing lying out 
there." They then enjoyed a feast of flesh. A feeling of inse- 
curity prevails throughout this country. It is quite common to 
furnish visitors with the keys of their rooms. When called on to 
come to breakfast or dinner, each locks his door and puts the key 
in his pocket. At Kolobeng we never locked our doors by night 
or by day for months together ; but there slavery is unknown. 
The Portuguese do not seem at all bigoted in their attachment to 
slavery, nor yet in their prejudices against color. Mr. Canto gave 

Ff 



450 I^OSS OF COTTON-SEED. 

an entertainment in order to draw all classes together and pro- 
mote general good-will. Two sovas or native chiefs were present, 
and took their places without the least appearance of embarrass- 
ment. The Sova of Kilombo appeared in the dress of a general, 
and the Sova of Bango was gayly attired in a red coat, profusely 
ornamented with tinsel. The latter had a hand of musicians with 
him consisting of six trumpeters and four drummers, who per- 
formed very well. These men are fond of titles, and the Portu- 
guese government humors them by conferring honorary captain- 
cies, etc. : the Sova of Bango was at present anxious to obtain 
the title of "Major of all the Sovas." At the tables of other gen- 
tlemen I observed the same thing constantly occurring. At this 
meeting Mr. Canto communicated some ideas which I had written 
out on the dignity of labor, and the superiority of free over slave 
labor. The Portuguese gentlemen present were anxiously expect- 
ing an arrival of American cotton-seed from Mr. Gabriel. They 
are now in the transition state from unlawful to lawful trade, and 
turn eagerly to cotton, coffee, and sugar as new sources of wealth. 
Mr. Canto had been commissioned by them to purchase three 
sugar-mills. Our cruisers have been the principal agents in com- 
pelling them to abandon the slave-trade ; and our government, in 
furnishing them with a supply of cotton-seed, showed a generous 
intention to aid them in commencing a more honorable course. It 
can scarcely be believed, however, that after Lord Clarendon had 
been at the trouble of procuring fresh cotton -seed through our 
minister at "Washington, and had sent it out to the care of H. M. 
Commissioner at Loanda, probably from having fallen into the 
hands of a few incorrigible slave-traders, it never reached its des- 
tination. It was most likely cast into the sea of Ambriz, and my 
friends at Golungo Alto were left without the means of commenc- 
ing a new enterprise. 

Mr. Canto mentioned that there is now much more cotton in 
the country than can be consumed ; and if he had possession of 
a few hundred pounds, he would buy up all the oil and cotton at 
a fair price, and thereby bring about a revolution in the agricul- 
ture of the country. These commodities are not produced in 
greater quantity, because the people have no market for those 
which now spring up almost spontaneously around them. The 
above was put down in my journal when I had no idea that 



ILLNESS OF SEKELETU'S HORSE. 451 

enlarged supplies of cotton from new sources were so much needed 
at home. 

It is common to cut down cotton-trees as a nuisance, and culti- 
vate beans, potatoes, and manioc sufficient only for their own con- 
sumption. I have the impression that cotton, which is deciduous 
in America, is perennial here ; for the plants I saw in winter were 
not dead, though going by the name Algodao Americana, or Amer- 
ican cotton. The rents paid for gardens belonging to the old con- 
Vents are merely nominal, varying from one shilling to three 
pounds per annum. The higher rents being realized from those 
in the immediate vicinity of Loanda, none but Portuguese or half- 
castes can pay them. 

When about to start, the horse which the governor had kindly 
presented for Sekeletu was seized with inflammation, which de- 
layed us some time longer, and we ultimately lost it. We had 
been careful to watch it when coming through the district of Ma- 
tamba, where we had discovered the tsetse, that no insect might 
light upon it. The change of diet here may have had some influ- 
ence in producing the disease ; for I was informed by Dr. Wel- 
weitsch, an able German naturalist, whom we found pursuing his 
arduous labors here, and whose life we hope may be spared to 
give his researches to the world, that, of fifty-eight kinds of grasses 
found at Loanda, only three or four species exist here, and these 
of the most diminutive kinds. The twenty-four different species 
of grass of Golungo Alto are nearly all gigantic. Indeed, gigan- 
tic grasses, climbers, shrubs and trees, with but few plants, con- 
stitute the vegetation of this region. 

November 'iOth. An eclipse of the sun, which I had anxiously 
hoped to observe with a view of determining the longitude, hap- 
pened this morning, and, as often took place in this cloudy cli- 
mate, the sun was covered four minutes before it began. When 
it shone forth the eclipse was in progress, and a few minutes be- 
fore it should (according to my calculations) have ended the sun 
was again completely obscured. The greatest patience and perse- 
verance are required, if one wishes to ascertain his position when 
it is the rainy season. 

Before leaving, I had an opportunity of observing a curious 
insect, which inhabits trees of the fig family [Ficus), upward of 
twenty species of which are found here. Seven or eight of them 



452 INSECTS WHICH DISTILL WATER. 

cluster round a spot on one of the smaller branches, and there 
keep up a constant distillation of a clear fluid, which, dropping 
to the ground, forms a little puddle below. If a vessel is placed 
under them in the evening, it contains three or four pints of fluid 
in the morning. The natives say that, if a drop falls into the 
eyes, it causes inflammation of these organs. To the question 
whence is this fluid derived, the people reply that the insects 
suck it out of the tree, and our own naturalists give the same an- 
swer. I have never seen an orifice, and it is scarcely possible that 
the tree can yield so much. A similar but much smaller homop- 
terous insect, of the family CercopidcB, is known in England as 
the frog-hopper {A^hrojohora spuonariajy when full grown and fur- 
nished with wings, but while still in the pupa state it is called 
'■^ Cicckoo-spit,^^ from the mass of froth in which it envelops itself. 
The circulation of sap in plants in our climate, especially of the 
graminacese, is not quick enough to yield much moisture. The 
African species is five or six times the size of the English. In the 
case of branches of the fig-tree, the point the insects congregate on 
is soon marked by a number of incipient roots, such as are thrown 
out when a cutting is inserted in the ground for the purpose of 
starting another tree. I believe that both the English and African 
insects belong to the same family, and differ only in size, and that 
the chief part of the moisture is derived from the atmosphere. 
I leave it for naturalists to explain how these little creatures 
distill both by night and day as much water as they please, and 
are more independent than her majesty's steam-ships, with their 
apparatus for condensing steam ; for, without coal, their abund- 
ant supplies of sea-water are of no avail. I tried the following 
experiment: Finding a colony of these insects busily distilling 
on a branch of the Hicinus communis^ or castor-oil plant, I de- 
nuded about 20 inches of the bark on the tree side of the insects, 
and scraped away the inner bark, so as to destroy all the ascending 
vessels. I also cut a hole in the side of the branch, reaching to 
the middle, and then cut out the pith and internal vessels. The 
distillation was then going on at the rate of one drop each 67 
seconds, or about 2 ounces 5^ drams in 24 hours. Next morning 
the distillation, so far from being affected by the attempt to stop 
the supplies, supposing they had come up through the branch 
from the tree, was increased to a drop every 5 seconds, or 12 drops 



EXPERIMENTS. 453 

per minute, making 1 pint (16 ounces) in every 24 hours. I then 
cut the branch so much that, during the day, it broke ; but they 
still went on at the rate of a drop every 5 seconds, while another 
colony on a branch of the same tree gave a drop every 17 seconds 
only, or at the rate of about 10 ounces 4f drams in 24 hours. I 
finally cut oif the branch; but this was too much for their patience, 
for they immediately decamped, as insects will do from either a 
dead branch or a dead animal, which Indian hunters soon know, 
when they sit down on a recently-killed bear. The presence of 
greater moisture in the air increased the power of these distillers : 
the period of greatest activity was in the morning, when the air 
and every thing else was charged with dew. 

Having but one day left for experiment, I found again that 
another colony on a branch denuded in the same way yielded a 
drop every 2 seconds, or 4 pints 10 ounces in 24 hours, while a 
colony on a branch untouched yielded a drop every 11 seconds, 
or 16 ounces 2-^ drams in 24 hours. I regretted somewhat the 
want of time to institute another experiment, namely, to cut a 
branch and place it in water, so as to keep it in life, and then 
observe if there was any diminution of the quantity of water in 
the vessel. This alone was wanting to make it certain that they 
draw water from the atmosphere. I imagine that they have some 
power of which we are not aware, besides that nervous influence 
which causes constant motion to our own involuntary muscles, 
the power of life4ong action without fatigue. The reader will re- 
member, in connection with this insect, the case of the ants al- 
ready mentioned. 

December lAth. Both myself and men having recovered from 
severe attacks of fever, we left the hospitable residence of Mr. 
Canto with a deep sense of his kindness to us all, and proceeded 
on our way to Ambaca. (Lat. 9° 16^ 35"'' S., long. 15° 23" E.) 

Frequent rains had fallen in October and JSTovember, which 
were nearly always accompanied with thunder. Occasionally the 
quantity of moisture in the atmosphere is greatly increased with- 
out any visible cause: this imparts a sensation of considerable 
cold, though the thermometer exhibits no fall of the mercury. The 
greater humidity in the air, affording a better conducting medium 
for the radiation of heat from the body, is as dangerous as a sud- 
den fall of the thermometer : it causes considerable disease among 



454 OFFICIAL DELINQUENTS. 

the natives, and this season is denominated " Carneirado," as if 
by the disease they were slaughtered like sheep. The season of 
these changes, which is the most favorable for Europeans, is the 
most unhealthy for the native population ; and this is by no means 
a climate in which either natives or Europeans can indulge in ir- 
regularities with impunity. 

Owing to the weakness of the men who had been sick, we were 
able to march but short distances. Three hours and a half 
brought us to the banks of the Caloi, a small stream which flows 
into the Senza. This is one of the parts of the country reputed 
to yield petroleum, but the geological formation, being mica schist, 
dipping toward the eastward, did not promise much for our find- 
ing it. Our hospitable friend, Mr. Mellot, accompanied us to 
another little river, called the Quango, where I saw two fine boys, 
the sons of the sub-commandant, Mr. Feltao, who, though only 
from six to eight years old, were subject to fever. We then pass- 
ed on in the bright sunlight, the whole country looking so fresh 
and green after the rains, and every thing so cheering, one could 
not but wonder to find it so feverish. 

We found, on reaching Ambaca, that the gallant old soldier, 
Laurence Jose Marquis, had, since our passing IcoUo i Bengo, 
been promoted, on account of his stern integrity, to the govern- 
ment of this important district. The office of commandant is 
much coveted by the officers of the line who come to Angola, not 
so much for the salary as for the perquisites,, which, when man- 
aged skillfully, in the course of a few years make one rich. An 
idea may be formed of the conduct of some of these officials from 
the following extract from the Boletin of Loanda of the 28th of 
October, 1854 : 

" The acting governor-general of the province of Angola and 
its dependencies determines as follows : 

" Having instituted an investigation (Syndecancia) against the 
commandant of the fort of , a captain of, the army of Por- 
tugal in commission in this province, , on account of numer- 
ous complaints, which have come before this government, of 
violences and extortions practiced by the said commandant, and 
those complaints appearing by the result of the investigation to 
be well founded, it will be convenient to exonerate the captain 
referred to from the command of the fort of , to which he 



PUNGO ANDONGO. 455 

had been nominated by the portfolio of this general government, 
No. 41, of 27th December of the past year ; and if not otherwise 
determined, the same official shall be judged by a council of war 
for the criminal acts which are to him attributed." 

Even this public mention of his crimes attaches no stigma to 
the man's character. The council of war, by which these delin- 
quents always prefer to be judged, is composed of men who eagerly 
expect to occupy the post of commandant themselves, and antici- 
pate their own trial for similar acts at some future time. The se- 
verest sentence a council of war awards is a few weeks' suspen- 
sion from office in his regiment. 

This want of official integrity, which is not at all attributable 
to the home government of Portugal, would prove a serious im- 
pediment in the way of foreign enterprise developing the resources 
of this rich province. And to this cause, indeed, may be ascribed 
the failure of the Portuguese laws for the entire suppression of 
the slave-trade. The officers ought to receive higher pay, if in- 
tegrity is expected from them. At present, a captain's pay for a 
year will only keep him in good uniform. The high pay our own 
officers receive has manifest advantages. 

Before leaving Ambaca we received a present of ten head of 
cattle from Mr. Schut of Loanda, and, as it shows the cheapness 
of provisions here, I may mention that the cost was only about a 
guinea per head. 

On crossing the Lucalla we made a detour to the south, in 
order to visit the famous rocks of Pungo Andongo. As soon as 
we crossed the rivulet Lotete, a change in the vegetation of the 
country was apparent. We found trees identical with those to be 
seen south of the Chobe. The grass, too, stands in tufts, and is 
of that kind which the natives consider to be best adapted for cat- 
tle. Two species of grape-bearing vines abound every where in 
this district, and the influence of the good pasturage is seen in 
the plump condition of the cattle. In all my previous inquiries 
respecting the vegetable products of Angola, I was invariably di- 
rected to Pungo Andongo. Do you grow wheat? " Oh, yes, in 
Pungo Andongo." — Grapes, figs, or peaches ? "Oh, yes, in Pungo 
Andongo." — ^Do you make butter, cheese, etc. ? The uniform an- 
swer was, "Oh, yes, there is abundance of all these in Pungo An- 
dongo." But when we arrived here, we found that the answers 



456 PUNGO ANDONGO. 

all referred to the activity of one man, Colonel Manuel Antonio 
Pires. The presence of the wild grape shows that vineyards 
might Tbe cultivated with success ; the wheat grows well without 
irrigation ; and any one who tasted the butter and cheese at the 
table of Colonel Pires would prefer them to the stale produce of 
the Irish dairy, in general use throughout that province. The 
cattle in this country are seldom milked, on account of the strong 
prejudice which the Portuguese entertain against the use of milk. 
They believe that it may be used with safety in the morning, but, 
if taken after midday, that it will cause fever. It seemed to me 
that there was not much reason for carefully avoiding a few drops 
in their coffee, after having devoured ten times the amount in the 
shape of cheese at dinner. 

The fort of Pungo Andongo (lat. 9° 42^ 14^^ S., long. 15° 30^ E.) 
is situated in the midst of a group of curious columnar-shaped 
rocks, each of which is upward of three hundred feet in height. 
They are composed of conglomerate, made up of a great variety 
of rounded pieces in a matrix of dark red sandstone. They rest 
on a thick stratum of this last rock, with very few of the pebbles 
in its substance. On this a fossil palm has been found, and if 
of the same age as those on the eastern side of the continent, 
on which similar palms now lie, there may be coal underneath 
this,, as well as under that at Tete. The asserted existence of 
petroleum springs at Dande, and near Cambambe, would seem 
to indicate the presence of this useful mineral, though I am not 
aware of any one having actually seen a seam of coal tilted up 
to the surface in Angola, as we have at Tete. The gigantic pil- 
lars of Pungo Andongo have been formed by a current of the sea 
coming from the S.S.E. ; for, seen from the top, they appear ar- 
ranged in that direction, and must have withstood the surges of 
the ocean at a period of our world's history, when the relations of 
land and sea were totally different from what they are now, and 
long before "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of 
God shouted for joy to see the abodes prepared which man was 
soon to fill." The imbedded pieces in the conglomerate are of 
gneiss, clay shale, mica and sandstone schists, trap, and porphyry, 
most of which are large enough to give the whole the appearance 
of being the only remaining vestiges of vast primasval banks of 
shingle. Several little streams run among these rocks, and in the 













" '11 
. II 



THE. QUEEN or JINGA. 459 

central part of the pillars stands the village, completely environed 
by well-nigh inaccessible rocks. The pathways into the village 
might be defended by a small body of troops against an army ; 
and this place was long the stronghold of the tribe called Jinga, 
the original possessory of the country. 

We were shown a footprint carved on one of these rocks. It 
is spoken of as that of a famous queen, who reigned over all this 
region. In looking at these rude attempts at commemoration, 
one feels the value of letters. In the history of Angola we find 
that the famous queen Donna Anna de Souza came from the 
vicinity, as embassadress from her brother, Gola Bandy, King of 
the Jinga, to Loanda,in 1621, to sue for peace, and astonished the 
governor by the readiness of her answers. The governor pro- 
posed, as a condition of peace, the payment by the Jinga of an an- 
nual tribute. " People talk of tribute after they have conquered, 
and not before it ; we come to talk of peace, not of subjection," was 
the ready answer. The governor was as much nonplussed as our 
Cape governors often are when they tell the CafFres "to put it all 
down in writing, and they will then be able to answer them." 
She remained some time in Loanda, gained all she sought, and, 
after being taught by the missionaries, was baptized, and return- 
ed to her own country with honor. She succeeded to the king- 
dom on the death of her brother, whom it was supposed she 
poisoned, but in a subsequent war with the Portuguese she lost 
nearly all her army in a great battle fought in 1627. She return- 
ed to the Church after a long period of apostasy, and died in ex- 
treme old age ; and the Jinga still live as an independent people 
to the north of this their ancient country. No African tribe has 
ever been destroyed. 

In former times the Portuguese imagined that this place was 
particularly unhealthy, and banishment to the black rocks of 
Pungo Andongo was thought by their judges to be a much se- 
verer sentence than transportation to any part of the coast ; but 
this district is now well known to be the most healthy part of 
Angola. The water is remarkably pure, the soil is light, and the 
country open and undulating, with a general slope down toward 
the River Coanza, a few miles distant. That river is the southern 
boundary of the Portuguese, and beyond, to the S. and S.W., we 
see the high mountains of the Libollo. On the S,E. we have also 



460 A MEKCHANT-PRmCE. 

a mountainous country, inhalbited by the Kimbonda or Ambonda, 
who are said by Colonel Pires to be a very brave and independent 
people, but hospitable and fair in their dealings. They are rich 
in cattle, and their country produces much beeswax, which is 
carefully collected, and brought to the Portuguese, with whom 
they have always been on good terms. 

The Ako (Haco), a branch of this family, inhabit the left bank 
of the Coanza above this village, who, instead of bringing slaves 
for sale, as formerly, now occasionally bring was for the purchase 
of a slave from the Portuguese. I saw a boy sold for twelve 
shillings : he said that he belonged to the country of Matiamvo. 
Here I bought a pair of well-made boots, of good tanned leather, 
which reached above the knee, for five shillings and eightpence, 
and that was just the price given for one pound of ivory by Mr. 
Pires ; consequently, the boy was worth two pairs of boots, or 
two pounds of ivory. The Libollo on the S. have not so good 
a character, but the Coanza is always deep enough to form a line 
of defense. Colonel Pires is a good example of what an honest 
industrious man in this country may become. He came as a 
servant in a ship, and, by a long course of persevering labor, has 
raised himself to be the richest merchant in Angola. He possesses 
some thousands of cattle ; and, on any emergency, can appear in 
the field with several hundred armed slaves. 

While enjoying the hospitality of this merchant-prince in his 
commodious residence, which is outside the rocks, and commands 
a beautiful view of all the adjacent country, I learned that all my 
dispatches, maps, and journal had gone to the bottom of the sea 
in the mail-packet "Forerunner." I felt so glad that my friend 
Lieutenant Bedingfeld, to whose care I had committed them, 
though in the most imminent danger, had not shared a similar 
fate, that I was at once reconciled to the labor of rewriting. I 
availed myself of the kindness of Colonel Pires, and remained till 
the end of the year reproducing my lost papers. 

Colonel Pires having another establishment on the banks of the 
Coanza, about six miles distant, I visited it with him about once 
a week for the purpose of recreation. The difference of tempera- 
ture caused by the lower altitude was seen in the cashew-trees ; 
for while, near the rocks, these trees were but coming into flower, 
those at the lower station were ripening their fruit. Cocoanut 



ANCIENT BUEIAL-PLACE. 461 

trees and bananas bear well at the lower station, but yield little 
or no fruit at the upper. The difference indicated by the ther- 
mometer was 7°. The general range near the rocks was 67° at 
7 A. M., 74° at midday, and 72° in the evening. 

A slave-boy belonging to Colonel Pires, having stolen and eaten 
some lemons in the evening, went to the river to wash his mouth, 
so as not to be detected by the flavor. An alligator seized him 
and carried him to an island in the middle of the stream ; there 
the boy grasped hold of the reeds, and baffled all the efforts of 
the reptile to dislodge him, till his companions, attracted by his 
cries, came in a canoe to his assistance. The alligator at once 
let go his hold ; for, when out of his own element, he is cowardly. 
The boy had many marks of the teeth in his abdomen and thigh, 
and those of the claws on his legs and arms. 

The slaves in Colonel Pires' establishments appeared more 
like free servants than any I had elsewhere seen. Every thing 
was neat and clean, while generally, where slaves are the only 
domestics, there is an aspect of slovenliness, as if they went 
on the principle of always doing as little for their masters as 
possible. 

In the country near to this station were a large number of 
the ancient burial-places of the Jinga. These are simply large 
mounds of stones, with drinking and cooking vessels of rude 
pottery on them. Some are arranged in a circular form, two 
or three yards in diameter, and shaped like a haycock. There 
is not a single vestige of any inscription. The natives of Angola 
generally have a strange predilection for bringing their dead to 
the sides of the most frequented paths. They have a particular 
anxiety to secure the point where cross-roads meet. On and 
around the graves are planted tree euphorbias and other species 
of that family. On the grave itself they also place water-bottles, 
broken pipes, cooking vessels, and sometimes a little bow and 
arrow. 

The Portuguese government, wishing to prevent this custom, 
affixed a penalty on any one burying in the roads, and appointed 
places of public sepulture in every district in the country. The 
people persist, however, in spite of the most stringent enforcement 
of the law, to follow their ancient custom. 

The country between the Coanza and Pungo Andongo is 



462 MANIOC THE CHIEF PEODUCT. 

covered with low trees, bushes, and fine pasturage. In the latter, 
we were pleased to see our old acquaintances, the gaudy gladiolus, 
Amaryllis toxicaria, hymanthus, and other bulbs in as flourishing 
a condition as at the Cape. 

It is surprising that so little has been done in the way of 
agriculture in Angola. Raising wheat by means of irrigation has 
never been tried ; no plow is ever used ; and the only instru- 
ment is the native hoe, in the hands of slaves. The chief object 
of agriculture is the manioc, which does not contain nutriment 
sufficient to give proper stamina to the people. The half-caste 
Portuguese have not so much energy as their fathers. They 
subsist chiefly on the manioc, and, as that can be eaten either 
raw, roasted, or boiled, as it comes from the ground ; or fermented 
in water, and then roasted or dried after fermentation, and baked 
or pounded into fine meal ; or rasped into meal and cooked as 
farina ; or made into confectionery with butter and sugar, it 
does not so soon pall upon the palate as one might imagine, when 
told that it constitutes their principal food. The leaves boiled 
make an excellent vegetable for the table ; and, when eaten by 
goats, their milk is much increased. The wood is a good fuel, 
and yields a large quantity of potash. If planted in a dry soil, 
it takes two years to come to perfection, requiring, during that 
time, one weeding only. It bears drought well, and never shrivels 
up, like other plants, when deprived of rain. When planted in 
low alluvial soils, and either well supplied with rain or annually 
flooded, twelve, or even ten months, are sufficient to bring it 
to maturity. The root rasped while raw, placed upon a cloth, 
and rubbed with the hands while water is poured upon it, parts 
with its starchy glutinous matter, and this, when it settles at the 
bottom of the vessel, and the water poured ofi", is placed in the sun 
till nearly dry, to form tapioca. The process of drying is com- 
pleted on an iron plate over a slow fire, the mass being stirred 
meanwhile with a stick, and when quite dry it appears aggluti- 
nated into little globules, and is in the form we see the tapioca of 
commerce. This is never eaten by weevils, and so little labor is 
required in its cultivation that on the spot it is extremely cheap. 
Throughout the interior parts of Angola, fine manioc meal, which 
could with ease have been converted either into superior starch or 
tapioca, is commonly sold at the rate of about ten pounds for a 



VISIT FEOM A COLOEED PEIEST. 4g3 

penny. All this region, however, has no means of transport to 
Loanda other than the shoulders of the carriers and slaves over 
a footpath. 

Cambamhe, to which the navigation of the Coanza reaches, is 
reported to be thirty leagues below Pungo Andongo. A large 
waterfall is the limit on that side ; and another exists higher up, 
at the confluence of the Lombe (lat. 9° 4V 26'^ S., and about 
long. 16° E.), over which hippopotami and elephants are some- 
times drawn and killed. The river between is rapid, and gener- 
ally rushes over a rocky bottom. Its source is pointed out as 
S.E. or S.S.E. of its confluence with the Lombe, and near Bihe. 
The situation of Bihe is not well known. When at Sanza we 
were assured that it lies nearly south of that point, and eight 
days distant. This statement seemed to be corroborated by our 
meeting many people going to Matiamvo and to Loanda from 
Bihe. Both parties had come to Sanza, and then branched oiF, 
one to the east, the other to the west. The source of the Coanza 
is thus probably not far from Sanza. 

I had the happiness of doing a little good in the way of admin- 
istering to the sick, for there are no doctors in the interior of 
Angola. Notwithstanding the general healthiness of this fine dis- 
trict and its pleasant temperature, I was attacked by fever myself. 
While confined to my room, a gentleman of color, a canon of the 
Church, kindly paid me a visit. He was on a tour of visitation in 
the different interior districts for the purpose of baptizing and 
marrying. He had lately been on a visit to Lisbon in company 
with the Prince of Congo, and had been invested with an order 
of honor by the King of Portugal as an acknowledgment of 
his services. He had all the appearance of a true negro, but 
commanded the respect of the people ; and Colonel P., who had 
known him for thirty years, pronounced him to be a good man. 
There are only three or four priests in Loanda, all men of 
color, but educated for the ofiice. About the time of my 
journey in Angola, an offer was made to any young men of 
ability who might wish to devote themselves to the service of 
the Church, to afford them the requisite education at the Uni- 
versity of Coimbra in Portugal. I was informed, on what seemed 
good authority, that the Prince of Congo is professedly a Chris- 
tian, and that there are no fewer than twelve churches in that 



464 THE KING OF CONGO. 

kingdom, the fruits of the mission established in former times at 
San Salvador, the capital. These churches are kept in partial re- 
pair by the people, who also keep up the ceremonies of the Church, 
pronouncing some gibberish over the dead, in imitation of the Latin 
prayers which they had formerly heard. Many of them can read 
and write. When a King of Congo dies, the body is wrapped up 
in a great many folds of cloth until a priest can come from Loan- 
da to consecrate his successor. The King of Congo still retains 
the title of Lord of Angola, which he had when the Jinga, the 
original possessors of the soil, owed him allegiance; and, when he 
writes to the Governor of Angola, he places his own name first, 
as if addressing his vassal. The Jinga paid him tribute annually 
in cowries, which were found on the island that shelters Loanda 
harbor, and, on refusing to continue payment, the King of Congo 
gave over the island to the Portuguese, and thus their dominion 
commenced in this quarter. 

There is not much knowledge of the Christian religion in either 
Congo or Angola, yet it is looked upon with a certain degree of fa- 
vor. The prevalence of fever is probably the reason why no priest 
occupies a post in any part of the interior. They come on tours 
of visitation like that mentioned, and it is said that no expense is 
incurred, for all the people are ready not only to pay for their 
services, but also to furnish every article in their power gratui- 
tously. In view of the desolate condition of this fine missionary 
field, it is more than probable that the presence of a few Protest- 
ants would soon provoke the priests, if not to love, to good works. 



DEPAETUEE FKOM PUNGO AISIDONGO. 455 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Leave Pungo Andongo. — Extent of Portuguese Power. — Meet Traders and Carri- 
ers. — Red Ants; their fierce Attack; Usefulness; Numbers. — Descend the 
Heights of Tala Mungongo. — Fruit-trees in the Valley of Cassange. — Edible 
Muscle. — Birds. — Cassange Village. — Quinine and Cathorj. — Sickness of Cap- 
tain Neves' Infant. — A Diviner thrashed. — Death of the Child. — Mourning. — 
Loss of Life from the Ordeal. — Wide-spread Superstitions. — The Chieftainship. — 
Charms. — Eeceive Copies of the "Times." — Trading Pombeiros. — Present for 
Matiamvo. — Fever after westerly Winds. — Capabilities of Angola for producing 
the raw Materials of English Manufacture. — Trading Parties with Ivory. — More 
Fever. — ^A Hyaana's Choice. — Makololo Opinion of the Portuguese. — Cypriano's 
Debt. — A Funeral. — Dread of disembodied Spirits. — Beautiful Morning Scenes. 
— Crossing the Quango. — Ambakistas called "The Jews of Angola." — Fashions 
of the Bashinje. — Approach the Village of Sansawe. — His Idea of Dignity. — The 
Pombeiros' Present. — Long Detention. — A Blow on the Beard. — Attacked in a 
Forest. — Sudden Conversion of a fighting Chief to Peace Principles by means of 
■ a Eevolver. — No Blood shed in consequence. — Eate of Traveling. — Slave Women. 
— Way of addressing Slaves. — Their thievish Propensities. — Feeders of the Con- 
go or Zaire. — Obliged to refuse Presents. — Cross the Loajima. — ^Appearance of 
People ; Hair Fashions. 

' January 1, 1855. Having, through the kindness of Colonel 
Pires, reproduced some of my lost papers, I left Pungo Andongo 
the first day of this year, and at Candumba, slept in one of the 
dairy establishments of my friend, who had sent forward orders 
for an ample supply of butter, cheese, and milk. Our path lay 
along the right bank of the Coanza. This is composed of the 
same sandstone rock, with pebbles, which forms the flooring of the 
country. The land is level, has much open forest, and is well 
adapted for pasturage. 

On reaching the confluence of the Lombe, we left the river, and 
proceeded in a northeasterly direction, through a fine open green 
country, to the village of Malange, where we struck into our 
former path. A few miles to the west of this a path branches off 
to a new district named the Duke Braganza. This path crosses 
the Lucalla and several of its feeders. The whole of the country 
drained by these is described as extremely fertile. The territory 



466 GEOLOGICAL STRUCTUKE. 

west of Braganza is reported to be mountainous, well wooded and 
watered ; wild coffee is abundant, and the people even make their 
huts of coffee-trees. The rivers Dande, Senza, and Lucalla are 
said to rise in one mountain range. Numerous tribes inhabit the 
country to the north, who are all independent. The Portuguese 
power extends chiefly over the tribes through whose lands we 
have passed. It may be said to be firmly seated only between 
the rivers Dande and Coanza. It extends inland about three 
hundred miles to the River Quango ; and the population, accord- 
ing to the imperfect data afforded by the census, given annually 
by the commandants of the fifteen or sixteen districts into which 
it is divided, can not be under 600,000 souls. 

Leaving Malange, we passed quickly, without deviation, along 
the path by which we had come. At Sanza (lat. d° 37^ 46'''' S., 
long. 16° 59'' E.) we expected to get a little seed-wheat, but this 
was not now to be found in Angola. The underlying rock of the 
whole of this section is that same sandstone which we have before 
noticed, but it gradually becomes finer in the grain, with the ad- 
dition of a little mica, the farther we go eastward ; we enter upon 
clay shale at Tala Mungongo (lat. 9° 42' 37'^ S., long. 17° 2T 
E.), and find it dipping a little to the west. The general geolog- 
ical structure is a broad fringe of mica and sandstone schist (about 
15° E.), dipping in toward the centre of the country, beneath these 
horizontal and sedimentary rocks of more recent date, which form 
an inland basin. The fringe is not, however, the highest in alti- 
tude, though the oldest in age. 

While at this latter place we met a native of Bihe who has vis- 
ited the country of Shinte three times for the purposes of trade. 
He gave us some of the news of that distant part, but not a word 
of the Makololo, who have always been represented in the coun- 
tries to the north as a desperately savage race, whom no trader 
could visit with safety. The halt-caste traders whom we met at 
Shinte's had returned to Angola with sixty-six slaves and upward 
of fifty tusks of ivory. As we came along the path, we daily met 
long lines of carriers bearing large square masses of beeswax, each 
about a hundred pounds weight, and numbers of elephants' tusks, 
the property of Angolese merchants. Many natives were proceed- 
ing to the coast also on their own account, carrying beeswax, ivo- 
ry, and sweet oil. They appeared to travel in perfect security ; 



RED ANTS. 467 

and at diiferent parts of tlie road we purchased fowls from them 
at a penny each. My men took care to celebrate their own daring 
in having actually entered ships, while the natives of these parts, 
who had endeavored to frighten them on their way down, had only 
seen them at a distance. Poor fellows I they were more than ever 
attentive to me ; and, as they were not obliged to erect sheds for 
themselves, in consequence of finding them already built at the 
different sleeping-places, all their care was bestowed in making me 
comfortable. Mashauana, as usual, made his bed with his head 
close to my feet, and never during the entire journey did I have to 
call him twice for any thing I needed. 

During our stay at Tala Mungongo, our attention was attract- 
ed to a species of red ant which infests different parts of this coun- 
try. It is remarkably fond of animal food. The commandant 
of the village having slaughtered a cow, slaves were obliged to sit 
up the whole night, burning fires of straw around the meat, to 
prevent them from devouring most of it. These ants are fre- 
quently met with in numbers like a small army. At a little 
distance they appear as a brownish-red band, two or three inches 
wide, stretched across the path, all eagerly pressing on in one 
direction. If a person happens to tread upon them, they rush 
up his legs and bite with surprising vigor. The first time I 
encountered this by no means contemptible enemy was near 
Cassange. My attention being taken up in viewing the distant 
landscape, I accidentally stepped upon one of their nests. Not 
an instant seemed to elapse before a simultaneous attack was 
made on various unprotected parts, up the trowsers from below, 
and on my neck and breast above. The bites of these furies 
were like sparks of fire, and there was no retreat. I jumped 
about for a second or two, then in desperation tore off all my 
clothing, and rubbed and picked them off seriatim as quickly as 
possible. Ugh ! they would make the most lethargic mortal look 
alive. Fortunately, no one observed this rencounter, or word might 
have been taken back to the village that I had become mad. I 
was once assaulted in a similar way when sound asleep at night 
in my tent, and it was only by folding my blanket over the fire 
that I could get rid of them. It is really astonishing how such 
small bodies can contain so large an amount of ill-nature. They 
not only bite, but twist themselves round after the mandibles are 



468 FEUIT-TREES. 

inserted, to produce laceration and pain, more than would be 
effected by the single wound. Frequently, while sitting on the 
ox, as he happened to tread near a band, they would rush up 
his legs to the rider, and soon let him know that he had dis- 
turbed their march. They possess no fear, attacking with equal 
ferocity the largest as well as the smallest animals. When any 
person has leaped over the band, numbers of them leave the 
ranks and rush along the path, seemingly anxious for a fight. 
They are very useful in ridding the country of dead animal 
matter, and, when they visit a human habitation, clear it entirely 
of the destructive white ants and other vermin. They destroy 
many noxious insects and reptiles. The severity of their attack 
is greatly increased by their vast numbers, and rats, mice, lizards, 
and even the Python natalensis, when in a state of surfeit from 
recent feeding, fall victims to their fierce onslaught. These ants 
never make hills like the white ant. Their nests are but a short 
distance beneath the soil, which has the soft appearance of the 
abodes of ants in England. Occasionally they construct galleries 
over their path to the cells of the white ant, in order to secure 
themselves from the heat of the sun during their marauding ex- 
peditions. 

January 15th, 1855. We descended in one hour from the 
heights of Tala Mungongo. I counted the number of paces 
made on the slope downward, and found them to be sixteen 
hundred, which may give a perpendicular height of from twelve 
to fifteen hundred feet. Water boiled at 206° at Tala Mungongo 
above, and at 208° at the bottom of the declivity, the air being 
at 72° in the shade in the former case, and 94° in the latter. 
The temperature generally throughout the day was from 94° to 
97° in the coolest shade we could find. 

The rivulets which cut up the valley of Cassange were now 
dry, but the Lui and Luare contained abundance of rather 
brackish water. The banks are lined with palm, wild date-trees, 
and many guavas, the fruit of which was now becoming ripe. A 
tree much like the mango abounds, but it does not yield fruit. In 
these rivers a kind of edible muscle is plentiful, the shells of which 
exist in all the alluvial beds of the ancient rivers as far as the 
Kuruman. The brackish nature of the water probably enables 
it to exist here. On the open grassy lawns great numbers of a 



CASSANGE VILLAGE. 459 

species of lark are seen. Tliey are Hack, with yellow shoulders. 
Another black bird, with a long tail ( Centrojpus Senegalensis), floats 
awkwardly, with its tail in a perpendicular position, over the long 
grass. It always chooses the highest points, and is caught on 
them with bird-lime, the long black tail-feathers being highly es- 
teemed by the natives for plumes. We saw here also the " Le- 
hututu" {Tragopan IJeadbeaterii), a large bird strongly resem- 
bling a turkey ; it is black on the ground, but when it flies the 
outer half of the wings are white. It kills serpents, striking them 
dexterously behind the head. It derives its native name from 
the noise it makes, and it is found as far as Kolobeng. Another 
species like it is called the Abyssinian hornbill. 

Before we reached Cassange we were overtaken by the com- 
mandant, Senhor Carvalho, who was returning, with a detachment 
of fifty men and a field-piece, from an unsuccessful search after 
some rebels. The rebels had fled, and all he could do was to 
burn their huts. He kindly invited me to take up my residence 
with him ; but, not wishing to pass by the gentleman (Captain 
jSTeves) who had so kindly received me on my first arrival in the 
Portuguese possessions, I declined. Senhor E-ego had been su- 
perseded in his command, because the Governor Amaral, who had 
come into office since my departure from Loanda, had determined 
that the law which requires the office of commandant to be exclu- 
sively occupied by military officers of the line should once more 
come into operation. I was again most kindly welcomed by my 
friend, Captain Neves, whom I found laboring under a violent in- 
flammation and abscess of the hand. There is nothing in the sit- 
uation of this village to indicate unhealthiness, except, perhaps, 
the rank luxuriance of the vegetation. Nearly all the Portuguese 
inhabitants sufifer from enlargement of the spleen, the eflects of 
frequent intermittents, and have generally a sickly appearance. 
Thinking that this affection of the hand was simply an effort of 
nature to get rid of malarious matter from the system, I recom- 
mended the use of quinine. He himself applied the leaf of a plant 
called cathory, famed among the natives as an excellent remedy 
for ulcers. The cathory leaves, when boiled, exude a gummy 
juice, which effectually shuts out the external air. Each remedy, 
of course, claimed the merit of the cure. 

Many of the children are cut off by fever. A fine boy of 



470 A DIVINER THEASHED. 

Captain Neves' had, since my passage westward, shared a similar 
fate. Another child 'died during the period of my visit. During 
his sickness, his mother, a woman of color, sent for a diviner in 
order to ascertain what ought to be done. The diviner, after 
throwing his dice, worked himself into the state of ecstasy in 
which they pretend to he in communication with the Barimo. 
He then gave the oracular response that the child was being- 
killed by the spirit of a Portuguese trader who once lived at 
Cassange. The case was this : on the death of the trader, the 
other Portuguese merchants in the village came together, and sold 
the goods of the departed to each other, each man accounting for 
the portion received to the creditors of the deceased at Loanda. 
The natives, looking on, and not understanding the nature of writ- 
ten mercantile transactions, concluded that the merchants of Cas- 
sange had simply stolen the dead man's goods, and that now the 
spirit was killing the child of Captain Neves for the part he had 
taken in the affair. The diviner, in his response, revealed the im- 
pression made on his own mind by the sale, and likewise the na- 
tive ideas of departed souls. As they give the whites credit for 
greater stupidity than themselves in all these matters, the mother 
of the child came, and told the father that he ought to give a 
slave to the diviner as a fee to make a sacrifice to appease the 
spirit and save the life of the child. The father quietly sent for 
a neighbor, and, though the diviner pretended to remain in his 
state of ecstasy, the brisk application of two sticks to his back 
suddenly reduced him to his senses and a most undignified flight. 
Tlie mother of this child seemed to have no confidence in Eu- 
ropean wisdom, and, though I desired her to keej) the child out of 
currents of wind, she preferred to follow her own custom, and even 
got it cupped on the cheeks. The consequence was that the child 
was soon in a dying state, and the father wishing it to be bap- 
tized, I commended its soul to the care and compassion of Him 
who said, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." The mother at 
once rushed away, and commenced that doleful wail which is so 
affecting, as it indicates sorrow without hope. She continued it 
without intermission until the child was buried. In the evening 
her female companions used a small musical instrument, which 
produced a kind of screeching sound, as an accompaniment of the 
death wail. 



THE OEDEAL. 471 

In the construction of this instrument they make use of caout- 
chouc, which, with a variety of other gums, is found in different 
parts of this country. 

The intercourse which the natives have had with white men 
does not seem to have much ameliorated their condition. A great 
number of persons are reported to lose their lives annually in dif- 
ferent districts of Angola by the cruel superstitions to which they 
are addicted, and the Portuguese authorities either know nothing 
of them, or are unable to prevent their occurrence. The natives 
are bound to secrecy by those who administer the ordeal, which 
generally causes the death of the victim. A person, when accused 
of witchcraft, will often travel from distant districts in order to as- 
sert her innocency and brave the test. They come to a river on 
the Cassange called Dua, drink the infusion of a poisonous tree, 
and perish unknown. 

A woman was accused by a brother-in-law of being the cause 
of his sickness while we were at Cassange. She offered to take 
the ordeal, as she had the idea that it would but prove her con- 
scious innocence. Captain Neves refused his consent to her go- 
ing, and thus saved her life, which would have been sacrificed, for 
the poison is very virulent. When a strong stomach rejects it, 
the accuser reiterates his charge ; the dose is repeated, and the 
person dies. Hundreds perish thus every year in the valley of 
Cassange. 

The same superstitious ideas being prevalent through the whole 
of the country north of the Zambesi, seems to indicate that the 
people must originally have been one. All believe that the souls 
of the departed still mingle among the living, and partake in 
some way of the food they consume. In sickness, sacrifices of 
fowls and goats are made to appease the spirits. It is imagined 
that they wish to take the living away from earth and all its 
enjoyments. When one man has killed another, a sacrifice is 
made, as if to lay the spirit of the victim. A sect is reported to 
exist who kill men in order to take their hearts and offer them to 
the Barimo. 

The chieftainship is elective from certain families. Among the 
Bangalas of the Cassange valley the chief is chosen from three 
families in rotation. A chief's brother inherits in preference to 
his son. The sons of a sister belong to her brother ; and he often 



472 TRADING POMBEIROS. 

sells his nephews to pay his debts. By this and other unnatural 
customs, more than hy war, is the slave-market supplied. 

The prejudices in favor of these practices are very deeply rooted 
in the native mind. Even at Loanda they retire out of the city 
in order to perform their heathenish rites without the cognizance 
of the authorities. Their religion, if such it may be called, is one 
of dread. Numbers of charms are employed to avert the evils 
with which they feel themselves to be encompassed. Occasion- 
ally you meet a man, more cautious or more timid than the rest, 
with twenty or thirty charms round his neck. He seems to act 
upon the principle of Proclus, in his prayer to all the gods and 
goddesses : among so many he surely must have the right one. 
The disrespect which Europeans pay to the objects of their fear 
is to their minds only an evidence of great folly. 

While here, I reproduced the last of my lost papers and maps ; 
and as there is a post twice a month from Loanda, I had the 
happiness to receive a packet of the "T^mes," and, among other 
news, an account of the Russian war up to the terrible charge of 
the light cavalry. The intense anxiety I felt to hear more may 
be imagined by every true patriot ; but I was forced to brood 
on in silent thought, and utter my poor prayers for friends who 
perchance were now no more, until I reached the other side of the 
continent. 

A considerable trade is carried on by the Cassange merchants 
with all the surrounding territory by means of native traders, 
whom they term "Pombeiros." Two of these, called in the his- 
tory of Angola " the trading blacks" (os feirantes pretos), Pedro 
Joao Baptista and Antonio Jose, having been sent by the first 
Portuguese trader that lived at Cassange, actually returned from 
some of the Portuguese possessions in the East with letters from 
the governor of Mozambique in the year 1815, proving, as is re- 
marked, "the possibility of so important a communication between 
Mozambique and Loanda." This is the only instance of native 
Portuguese subjects crossing the continent. No European ever 
accomplished it, though this fact has lately been quoted as if the 
men had been '-'■ Portuguese.^'' 

Captain Neves was now actively engaged in preparing a present, 
worth about fifty pounds, to be sent by Pombeiros to Matiamvo. 
It consisted of great quantities of cotton cloth, a large carpet, an 



TEVEE AFTER AVESTERLY WINDS. 473 

arm-chair with a canopy and curtains of crimson calico, an iron 
bedstead, musquito curtains, beads, etc., and a number of pictures 
rudely painted in oil by an embryo black painter at Cassange. 

Matiamvo, like most of the natives in the interior of the coun- 
try, has a strong desire to possess a cannon, and had sent ten 
large tusks to purchase one ; but, being government property, 
it could not be sold : he was now furnished with a blunderbuss, 
mounted as a cannon, which would probably please him as well. 

Senhor Gra9a and some other Portuguese have visited this chief 
at different times ; but no European resides beyond the Quango ; 
indeed, it is contrary to the policy of the government of Angola 
to allow their subjects to penetrate further into the interior. The 
present would have been a good opportunity for me to have visited 
that chief, and I felt strongly inclined to do so, as he had expressed 
dissatisfaction respecting my treatment by the Chiboque, and even 
threatened to punish them. As it would be improper to force my 
men to go thither, I resolved to wait and see whether the propo- 
sition might not emanate from themselves. When I can get the 
natives to agree in the propriety of any step, they go to the end of 
the affair without a murmur. I speak to them and treat them as 
rational beings, and generally get on well with them in consequence. 

I have already remarked on the unhealthiness of Cassange ; and 
Captain Neves, who possesses an observing turn of mind, had 
noticed that always when the west wind blows much fever imme- 
diately follows. As long as easterly winds prevail, all enjoy good 
health ; but in January, February, March, and April, the winds 
are variable, and sickness is general. The unhealthiness of the 
westerly winds probably results from malaria, appearing to be 
heavier than common air, and sweeping down into the valley of 
Cassange from the western plateau, somewhat in the same way as 
the carbonic acid gas from bean-fields is supposed by colliers to 
do into coal-pits. In the west of Scotland strong objections are 
made by that body of men to farmers planting beans in their 
vicinity, from the belief that they render the mines unhealthy. 
The gravitation of the malaria from the more elevated land of 
Tala Mungongo toward Cassange is the only way the unhealthi- 
ness of this spot on the prevalence of the westerly winds can be 
accounted for. The banks of the Quango, though much more 
marshy, and covered with ranker vegetation, are comparatively 



474 



EXPORTS FROM LOANDA. 



healthy ; but thither the westerly wind does not seem to convey 
the noxious agent. 

Feb. 20th. On the day of starting from Cassange, the westerly 
wind blew strongly, and on the day following we were brought to 
a stand by several of our party being laid up with fever. This 
complaint is the only serious drawback Angola possesses. It is in 
every other respect an agreeable land, and admirably adapted for 
yielding a rich abundance of tropical produce for the rest of the 
world. Indeed, I have no hesitation in asserting that, had it been 
in the possession of England, it would now have been yielding as 
much or more of the raw material for her manufactures as an 
equal extent of territory in the cotton-growing states of America. 
A railway from Loanda to this valley would secure the trade of 
most of the interior of South Central Africa.* 



* The following statistics may be of interest to mercantile men. They show 
that since the repression of the slave-trade in Angola the value of the exports in 
lawful commerce has steadily augmented. We have no returns since 1850, but the 
prosperity of legitimate trade has suifered no check. The duties are noted in Por- 
tuguese money, "milreis," each of which is about three shillings in value. 

Eetden of the Quantities and Value of the Staple Articles, the Produce of the 
Province of Angola, exported fi-om St. Paul de Loanda between July i, 1848, 
and June 30, 1849, specifying the Quantities and Value of those exported in 
Portuguese Ships and in Ships of other Nations. 



ARTICLES. 


Ik PoKTnGUEsE Ships. 


In Ships of othee Nations. 


Amount. 


Value. 


Amount. 


Value. 


Ivory Cwt. 

Palm oil " 


1454 
1440 

152 
1837 ■ 

147 
1109 

630 


£ s. d. 

35,350 

2,160 

304 

633 17 6 

205 16 

6,654 

23,940 

69,247 13 6 


515 
6671 1 qr. 

684 

849 
4763 

544 


£ s. d. 

12,875 

10,036 17 6 

1,368 

318 17 6 

6,668 4 

3,264 


Coffee " 

Hides No. 

Gum • Cwt. 

Beeswax " 

Orchella Tons 


34,530 19 



Total Quantity and Value of Exports from Loanda. 

£ s. 

48,225 

8111 Iqr 12,196 17 

1,672 

952 15 

6,874 

9,918 

23,940 



Ivorj'- 


Cwt. 


1969 


Palm oil 


" 


8111 


Coffee 


" 


836 


Hides 


No. 


2686 


Gum 


Cwt. 


4910 


Beeswax 


" 


1653 


Orchella 


Tons. 


630 



d. 

6 





. 

i;i03,778 12 6 



REVENUE OF LOANDA. 



475 



As soon as we could move to"^ard the Quango we did so, 
meeting in our course several trading-parties, both native and 
Portuguese. We met two of the latter carrying a tusk weighing 
126 lbs. The owner afterward informed us that its fellow on 
the left side of the same elephant was 130 lbs. It was 8 feet 
6^ inches long, and 21 inches in circumference at the part on 
which the lip of the animal rests. The elephant was rather a 



Abstract View of the Net Revenue of the Customs at St. Paul de Loanda in 
quinquennial periods from 1818-19 to 1843-44, both inclr.ded; and thence in 
. each year to 1848-49. 



Years. 


Duties on 
Importation. 


Duties on 
Exportation. 


Duties on 
Ee-e.i:portation. 


Duties on Slaves. 


Tonnage Dues. Store 
Rents, and other in- 
cidental Receipts. 


1818-19 


Mil. reis. 

573 876 


Mil. reis. 


Mil 


reis. 


Mil. reis. 

137,320 800 


Mil. reis. 

148,608 661 


1823-24 


3,490 752 


460 450 








120,843 000 


133,446 892 


1828-29 


4,700 684 


800 280 








125,330 000 


139,981 364 


1833-34 


7,490 000 


1,590 000 








139,280 000 


158,978 &40 


1838-39 


25,800 590 


2,720 000 








135,470 320 


173,710 910 


1843-44 


53,240 000 


4,320 000 








72,195 230 


138,255 230 


1844-45 


99,380 264 


6,995 095 








17,676 000 


134,941 359 


1845-46 


150,233 789 


9,610 735 








5,116 500 


181,423 550 


1846-47 


122,501 186 


8,605 821 








549 000 


114,599 235 


1847-48 


119,246 826 


9,718 676 


4097 868 


1,231 200 


146,321 476 


1848-49 


131,105 453 


9,969 960 


1164 309 


1,183 500 


157,152 400 


718,763 420 


54,790 987 


756,195 550 




=£102,680 


=£7827 




=£108,028 





Years. 


Net Revenue of 
Customs. 


Revenue from 
other Sources. 


Total Net 
Revenue. 


Total Amount of 
Charges. 


1844-45 

1845-46 

1846-47 

1847^8 

1848-i9 


£ s. d. 
26,988 5 6 
36,284 14 2 
28,919 16 11 
29,264 5 10 
31,430 9 7 


£ s. d. 
9,701 10 8 
24,580 4 10 
23,327 9 11 
24,490 11 8 
18,868 3 10 


£ s. d. 
36,689 16 1 
60,864 19 
52,247 6 10 
53,754 17 6 
51,298 13 5 


£ s. d. 
53,542 5 4 
56,695 9 7 
52,180 9 7 
53,440 8 8 
50,686 3 3 



The above account exhibits the total revenue and charges of the government 
of St. Paul de Loanda in each year, from 1844-45 to 1848-49, both included. 
The above three tables are copied from the appendix to a dispatch sent by Mr. 
Gabriel to Viseount Palmerston, dated the 5th of August, 1850, and, among 
other facts of interest, show a very satisfactory diminution in the duties upon 



The returns from 1818 to 1844 have been obtained from diiFerent sources a»the 
average revenue ; those from 1844 to 1849 are from the Custom-house records. 



476 MORE FEVER. ^ 

small one, as is common in this hot central region. Some idea 
may be formed of the strength of his neck when it is recollected 
that he bore a weight of 256 lbs. The ivory which comes from 
the east and northeast of Cassange is very much larger than any 
to be found further south. Captain Neves had one weighing 120 
lbs., and this weight is by no means uncommon. They have been 
found weighing even 158 lbs. 

Before reaching the Quango we were again brought to a stand 
by fever in two of my companions, close to the residence of a 
Portuguese who rejoiced in the name of William Tell, and who 
lived here in spite of the prohibition of the government. We 
were using the water of a pond, and this gentleman, having come to 
invite me to dinner, drank a little of it, and caught fever in conse- 
quence. If malarious matter existed in water, it would have been 
a wonder had we escaped ; for, traveling in the sun, with the ther- 
mometer from 96° to 98° in the shade, the evaporation from our 
bodies causing much thirst, we generally partook of every water 
we came to. We had probably thus more disease than others 
might suffer who had better shelter. 

Mr. Tell remarked that his garden was rather barren, being 
still, as he said, wild ; but when more worked it would become 
better, though no manure be applied. My men were busy collect- 
ing a better breed of fowls and pigeons than those in their own 
pountry. Mr. Tell presented them with some large specimens 
from Eio Janeiro. Of these they were wonderfully proud, and 
bore the cock in triumph through the country of the Balonda, as 
evidence of having been to the sea. But when at the village of 
Shinte, a hysena came into our midst when we were all sound 
asleep, and picked out the giant in his basket from eighty-four 
others, and he was lost, to the great grief of my men. The 
anxiety these people have always shown to improve the breed 
of their domestic animals is, I think, a favorable point in their 
character. On looking at the common breeds in the posses- 
sion of the Portuguese, which are merely native cattle, and seeing 
them slaughter both heifer-calves and cows, which they them- 
selves never do, and likewise making no use of the milk, they 
concluded that the Portuguese must be an inferior race of white 
moji. They never ceased remarking on the fine ground for gar- 
dens over which we were passing ; and when I happened to men- 



SUPEKSTITIOUS FEAES. 477 

tion that most of the flour which the Portuguese consumed came 
from another country, they exclaimed, "Are they ignorant of 
tillage?" "They know nothing but buying and selling: they are 
not men." I hope it may reach the ears of my Angolese friends, 
and that they may be stirred up to develop the resources of their 
fine country. 

On coming back to Cypriano's village on the 28th, we found that 
his step-father had died after we had passed, and, according to the 
custom of the country, he had spent more than his patrimony in 
funeral orgies. He acted with his wonted kindness, though, un- 
fortunately, drinking has got him so deeply in debt that he now 
keeps out of the way of his creditors. He informed us that the 
source of the Quango is eight days, or one hundred miles, to the 
south of this, and in a range called Mosamba, in the country of 
the Basongo. We can see from this a sort of break in the high 
land which stretches away round to Tala Mongongo, through 
which the river comes. 

A death had occurred in a village about a mile off, and the 
people were busy beating drums and firing guns. The funeral 
rites are half festive, half mourning, partaking somewhat of the 
character of an Irish wake. There is nothing more heart-rending 
than their death wails. When the natives turn their eyes to the 
future world, they have a view cheerless enough of their own ut- 
ter helplessness and hopelessness. They fancy themselves com- 
pletely in the power of the disembodied spirits, and look upon the 
prospect of following them as the greatest of misfortunes. Hence 
they are constantly deprecating the wrath of departed souls, be- 
lieving that, if they are appeased, there is no other cause of death 
but witchcraft, which may be averted by charms. The whole of 
the colored population of Angola are sunk in these gross su- 
perstitions, but have the opinion, notwithstanding, that they 
are wiser in these matters than their white neighbors. Each 
tribe has a consciousness of following its own best interests in the 
best way. They are by no means destitute of that self-esteem 
which is so common in other nations ; yet they fear all manner 
of phantoms, and have half-developed ideas and traditions of 
something or other, they know not what. The pleasures of ani- 
mal life are ever present to their minds as the supreme good ; 
and, but for the innumerable invisibilities, they might enjoy their 



478 CEOSSING THE QUANGO. 

luxurious climate as much as it is possible for man to do. I have 
often thought, in traveling through their land, that it presents 
pictures of beauty which angels might enjoy. How often have I 
beheld, in still mornings, scenes the very essence of beauty, and all 
bathed in a quiet air of delicious warmth ! yet the occasional soft 
motion imparted a pleasing sensation of coolness as of a fan. 
Green grassy meadows, the cattle feeding, the goats browsing, 
the kids skipping, the groups of herd-boys with miniature bows, 
arrows, and spears ; the women wending their way to the river 
with watering-pots poised jauntily on their heads ; men sewing 
under the shady banians ; and old gray-headed fathers sitting on 
the ground, with staff in hand, listening to the morning gossip, 
while others carry trees or branches to repair their hedges ; and 
all this, flooded with the bright African sunshine, and the birds 
singing among the branches before the heat of the day has become 
intense, form pictures which can never be forgotten. 

We were informed that a chief named Gando, living on the 
other side of the river, having been accused of witchcraft, was 
killed by the ordeal, and his body thrown into the Quango. 

The ferrymen demanded thirty yards of calico, but received six 
thankfully. The canoes were wretched, carrying only two persons 
at a time ; but my men being well acquainted with the water, we 
all got over in about two hours and a half. They excited the 
admiration of the inhabitants by the manner in which they 
managed the cattle and donkeys in crossing. The most stubborn 
of beasts found himself powerless in their hands. Five or six, 
seizing hold on one, bundled him at once into the stream, and, in 
this predicament, he always thought it best policy to give in and 
swim. The men sometimes swam along with the cattle, and forced 
them to go on by dashing water at their heads. The diiference 
between my men and those of the native traders who accompanied 
us was never more apparent than now ; for, while my men felt an 
interest in every thing we possessed in common, theirs were rather 
glad when the oxen refused to cross, for, being obliged to slaugh- 
ter them on such occasions, the loss to their masters was a wel- 
come feast to themselves. 

On the eastern side of the Quango we passed on, without visit- 
ing our friend of the conical head-dress, to the residence of some 
Ambakistas who had crossed the river in order to secure the first 



AMBAKISTAS.— BASHINJE. 479 

chances of trade in wax. I have before remarked on the knowl- 
edge of reading and writing that these Amhakistas possess ; they 
are famed for their love of all sorts of learning within their reach, 
a knowledge of the history of Portugal, Portuguese law, etc., etc. 
They are remarkably keen in trade, and are sometimes called the 
Jews of Angola. They are employed as clerks and writers, their 
feminine delicacy of constitution enabling them to write a fine 
lady's hand, a kind of writing much esteemed among the Portu- 
guese. They are not physically equal to the European Portuguese, 
but possess considerable ability ; and it is said that half-castes, in 
the course of a few generations, return to the black color of the 
maternal ancestor. The black population of Angola has become 
much deteriorated. They are not so strongly formed as the inde- 
pendent tribes. A large quantity of aguardiente, an inferior kind 
of spirit, is imported into the country, which is most injurious in 
its effects. We saw many parties carrying casks of this baneful 
liquor to the independent chiefs beyond ; and were informed that 
it is difficult for any trader to'convey it far, carriers being in the 
habit of helping themselves by means of a straw, and then inject- 
ing an equal amount of water when near the point of delivery. 
To prevent this, it is common to see large demijohns with padlocks 
on the corks. These are frequently stolen. In fact, the carriers 
are much addicted to both lying and thieving, as might be ex- 
pected from the lowest class of a people on whom the debasing 
slave system has acted for two centuries. 

The Bashinje, in whose country we now are, seem to possess 
more of the low negro character and physiognomy than either 
the Balonda or Basongo ; their color is generally dirty black, 
foreheads low and compressed, noses flat and much expanded 
laterally, though this is partly owing to the alas spreading over 
the cheeks, by the custom of inserting bits of sticks or reeds in 
the septum ; their teeth are deformed by being filed to points ; 
their lips are large. They make a nearer approach to a general 
negro appearance than any tribes I met ; but I did not notice 
this on my way down. They cultivate pretty largely, and rely 
upon their agricultural products for their supplies of salt, flesh, 
tobacco, etc., from Bangalas. Their clothing consists of pieces 
of skin, hung loosely from the girdle in front and behind. They 
plait their hair fantastically. We saw some women coming with 



480 SANSAWE'S IDEA OF DIGNITY. 

their liair woven into the form of a European hat, and it was only 
Iby a oioser inspection that its nature was detected. Others had it 
arranged in tufts, with a threefold cord along the ridge of each 
tuft ; while others, again, follow the ancient Egyptian fashion, hav- 
ing the whole mass of wool plaited into cords, all hanging down 
as far as the shoulders. This mode, with the somewhat Egyptian 
cast of countenance in other parts of Londa, reminded me strongly 
of the paintings of that nation in the "British Museum. 

We had now rain every day, and the sky seldom presented that 
cloudless aspect and clear blue so common in the dry lands of the 
south. The heavens are often overcast by large white motionless 
masses, which stand for hours in the same position, and the inter- 
vening spaces are filled with a milk-and-water-looking haze. Not- 
withstanding these unfavorable circumstances, I obtained good ob- 
servations for the longitude of this important point on both sides 
of the Quango, and found the river running in 9° 50^ S. lat., 18° 
33^ E. long. 

On proceeding to our former station near Sansawe's village, he 
ran to meet us with wonderful urbanity, asking if we had seen 
Moene Put, king of the white men (or Portuguese) ; and added, 
on parting, that he would come to receive his dues in the evening. 
I replied that, as he had treated us so scurvily, even forbidding 
his people to sell us any food, if he did not bring us a fowl and 
some eggs as part of his duty as a chief, he should receive no 
present from me. When he came, it was in the usual Londa way 
of showing the exalted position he occupies, mounted on the shoul- 
ders of his spokesman, as schoolboys sometimes do in England, 
and as was represented to have been the case in the southern isl- 
ands when Captain Cook visited them. My companions, amused 
at his idea of dignity, greeted him with a hearty laugh. He visit- 
ed the native traders first, and then came to me with two cocks as 
a present. I spoke to him about the impolicy of treatment we 
had received at his hands, and quoted the example of the Banga- 
las, who had been conquered by the Portuguese, for their extor- 
tionate demands of payment for firewood, grass, water, etc., and 
concluded by denying his right to any payment for simply pass- 
ing through uncultivated land. To all this he agreed ; and then 
I gave him, as a token of friendship, a pannikin of coarse powder, 
two iron spoons, and two yards of coarse printed calico. He 



LONG DETENTION. 481 

looked rather saucily at these articles, for hp had just received a 
barrel containing 18 lbs. of powder, 24 yards of calico, and two 
bottles of brandy, from Senhor Pascoal the Pombeiro. Other 
presents were added the next day, but we gave nothing more ; and 
the Pombeiros informed me that it was necessary to give largely, 
because they are accompanied by slaves and carriers who are no 
great friends to their masters ; and if they did not secure the 
friendship of these petty chidfs, many slaves and their loads might 
be stolen while passing through the forests. It is thus a sort of 
black-mail that these insignificant chiefs levy ; and the native 
traders, in paying, do so simply as a bribe to keep them honest. 
This chief was a man of no power, but in our former ignorance 
of this he plagued us a whole day in passing. 

Finding the progress of Senhor Pascoal and the other Pom- 
beiros excessively slow, I resolved to forego his company to 
Cabango after I had delivered to him some letters to be sent 
back to Cassange. I went forward with the intention of finishing 
my writing, and leaving a packet for him at some village. We 
ascended the eastern acclivity that bounds the Cassange valley, 
which has rather a gradual ascent up from the Quango, and we 
found that the last ascent, though apparently not quite so high 
as that at Tala Mungongo, is actually much higher. The top is 
about 5000 feet above the level of the sea, and the bottom 3500 
feet ; water boiling on the heights at 202°, the thermometer in 
the air showing 96° ; and at the bottom at 205°, the air being 
75°. We had now gained the summit of the western subtending 
ridge, and began to descend toward the centre of the country, 
hoping soon to get out of the Chiboque territory, which, when we 
ascended from the Cassange valley, we had entered ; but, on the 
19th of April, the intermittent, which had begun on the 16th of 
March, was changed into an extremely severe attack of rheumatic 
fever. This was brought on by being obliged to sleep on an ex- 
tensive plain covered with water. The rain poured down inces- 
santly, but we formed our beds by dragging up the earth into 
oblong mounds, somewhat like graves in a country church-yard, 
and then placing grass upon them. The rain continuing to deluge 
us, we were unable to leave for two days, but as soon as it became 
fair we continued our march. The heavy dew upon the high 
grass was so cold as to cause shivering, and I was forced to lie by 

Hh 



482 A BLOW ON THE BEAED. 

for eight days, tossing and groaning with violent pain in the head. 
This was the most severe attack I had endured. It made me quite 
unfit to move, or even know what was passing outside my little 
tent. Senhor Pascoal, who had been detained by the severe rain at 
a better spot, at last came up, and, knowing that leeches abound- 
ed in the rivulets, procured a number, and applied some dozens to 
the nape of the neck and the loins. This partially relieved the 
pain. He was then obliged to move forward, in order to purchase 
.food for his large party. After many days I began to recover, 
and wished to move on, but my men objected to the attempt on 
account of my weakness. When Senhor Pascoal had been some 
time at the village in front, as he had received instructions from 
his employer, Captain Neves, to aid me as much as possible, and 
being himself a kindly-disposed person, he sent back two messen- 
gers to invite me to come on, if practicable. 

It happened that the head man of the village where I had lain 
twenty-two days, while bargaining and quarreling in my camp for 
a piece of meat, had been struck on the mouth by one of my men. 
My principal men paid five pieces of cloth and a gun as an atone- 
ment ; but the more they yielded, the more exorbitant he became, 
and he sent word to all the surrounding villages to aid him in 
avenging the affront of a blow on the beard. As their courage 
.usually rises with success, I resolved to yield no more, and de- 
parted. In passing through a forest in the country beyond, we 
were startled by a body of men rushing after us. They began by 
knocking down the burdens of the hindermost of my men, and sev- 
eral shots were fired, each party spreading out on both sides of the 
path. I fortunately had a six-barreled revolver, which my friend 
Captain Henry Need, of her majesty's brig " Linnet," had consid- 
erately sent to Golungo Alto after my departure from Loanda. 
Taking this in my hand, and forgetting fever, I staggered quickly 
along the path with two or three of my men, and fortunately en- 
countered the chief. The sight of the six barrels gaping into 
his stomach, with my own ghastly visage looking daggers at his 
face, seemed to produce an instant revolution in his martial feel- 
ings, for he cried out, " Oh ! I have only come to speak to you, 
and wish peace only." Mashauana had hold of him by the hand, 
and found him shaking. We examined his gun, and found that 
it had been discharged. Both parties crowded up to their chiefs. 



SKIEmSH IN A FOEEST. 483 

One of the opposite party coming too near, one of mine drove liim 
back with a battle-axe. The enemy protested their amicable in- 
tentions, and my men asserted the fact of having the goods 
knocked down as evidence of the contrary. Without waiting long, 
I requested all to sit down, and Pitsane, placing his hand upon 
the revolver, somewhat allayed their fears. I then said to the 
chief, " If you have come with peaceable intentions, we have no 
other ; go away home to your village." He replied, " I am afraid 
lest you shoot me in the back." I rejoined, " If I wanted to kill 
you, I could shoot you in the face as well." Mosantu called out 
to me, " That's only a Makalaka trick; don't give him your back." 
But I said, "Tell him to observe that I am not afraid of him ;" 
and, turning, mounted my ox. There was not much danger in 
the fire that was opened at first, there being so many trees. The 
enemy probably expected that the sUdden attack would make us 
forsake our goods, and allow them to plunder with ease. The 
villagers were no doubt pleased with being allowed to retire un- 
scathed, and we were also glad to get away without having shed 
a drop of blood, or having compromised ourselves for any future 
visit. My men were delighted with their own bravery, and made 
the woods ring with telling each other how " brilliant their con- 
duct before the enemy" would have been, had hostilities not been 
brought to a sudden close. 

I do not mention this little skirmish as a very frightful affair. 
The negro character in these parts, and in Angola, is essentially 
cowardly, except when influenced by success. A partial triumph 
over any body of men would induce the whole country to rise in 
arms, and this is the chief danger to be feared. These petty chiefs 
have individually but little power, and with my men, now armed 
with guns, I could have easily beaten them off singly ; but, being 
of the same family, they would readily unite in vast numbers if 
incited by prospects of successful plunder. They are by no means 
equal to the Cape Caffres in any respect whatever. 

In the evening we came to Moena Kikanje, and found him a 
sensible man. He is the last of the Chiboque chiefs in this di- 
rection, and is in alliance with Matiamvo, whose territory com- 
mences a short distance beyond. His village is placed on the 
east bank of the Quilo, which is here twenty yards wide, and breast 
deep. 



484 MODE OF ADDRESSING SLAVES. 

The country was generally covered with forest, and we slept 
every night at some village. I was so weak, and had become so 
deaf from the effects of the fever, that I was glad to avail myself 
of the company of Senhor Pascoal and the other native traders. 
Our rate of traveling was only two geographical miles per hour, 
and the average number of hours three and a half per day, or 
seven miles. Two thirds of the month was spent in stoppages, 
there being only ten traveling days in each month. The stop- 
pages were caused by sickness, and the necessity of remaining 
in different parts to purchase food ; and also because, when one 
carrier was sick, the rest refused to carry his load. 

One of the Pombeiros had eight good-looking women in a 
chain whom he was taking to the country of Matiamvo to sell for 
ivory. They always looked ashamed when I happened to come 
near them, and must have felt keenly their forlorn and degraded 
position. I believe they were captives taken from the rebel 
Cassanges. The way in which slaves are spoken of in Angola 
and eastern Africa must sound strangely even to the owners when 
they first come from Europe. In Angola the common appellation 
is "o diabo," or "brutu;" and it is quite usual to hear gentle- 
men call out, " O diabo ! bring fire." In eastern Africa, on the 
contrary, they apply the term " bicho" (an animal), and you hear 
the phrase, " Call the animal to do this or that." In fact, slave- 
owners come to regard their slaves as not human, and will curse 
them as the "race of a dog." Most of the carriers of my travel- 
ing companions were hired Basongo, and required constant vigi- 
lance to prevent them stealing the goods they carried. Salt, which 
is one of the chief articles conveyed into the country, became con- 
siderably lighter as we went along, but the carriers shielded them- 
selves by saying that it had been melted by the rain. Their bur- 
dens were taken from them every evening, and placed in security 
under the guardianship of Senhor Pascoal's own slaves. It was 
pitiable to observe the worrying life he led. There was the great- 
est contrast possible between the conduct of his people and that 
of my faithful Makololo. 

We crossed the Loange, a deep but narrow stream, by a bridge. 
It becomes much larger, and contains hippopotami, lower down. 
It is the boundary of Londa on the west. We slept also on the 
banks of the Pezo, now flooded, and could not but admire their 



FEEDERS OF THE CONGO. ' 485 

capalbilitles for easy irrigation. On reaching the River Chikapa 
(lat. 10° 10' S., long. 19° 42' E.), the 25th of March, we found 
it fiftj or sixty yards wide, and flowing E.N.E. into the Kasai. 
The adjacent country is of the same level nature as that part of 
Londa formerly described ; but, having come farther to the east- 
ward than our previous course, we found that all the rivers had 
worn for themselves much deeper valleys than at the points we 
had formerly crossed them. 

Surrounded on all sides by large gloomy forests, the people of 
these parts have a much more indistinct idea of the geography of 
their country than those who live in hilly regions. It was only 
after long and patient inquiry that I became fully persuaded that 
the Quilo runs into the Chikapa. As we now crossed them both 
considerably farther down, and were greatly to the eastward of our 
first route, there can be no doubt that these rivers take the same 
course as the others, into the Kasai, and that I had been led into 
a mistake in saying that any of them flowed to the westward. 
Indeed, it was only at this time that I began to perceive that all 
the western feeders of the Kasai, except the Quango, flow first 
from the western side toward the centre of the country, then grad- 
ually turn, with the Kasai itself, to the north ; and, after the con- 
fluence of the Kasai with the Quango, an immense body of water, 
collected from all these branches, finds its way out of the country 
by means of the River Congo or Zaire on the west coast. 

The people living along the path we are now following were 
quite accustomed to the visits of native traders, and did not feel 
in any way bound to make presents of food except for the purpose 
of cheating: thus, a man gave me a fowl and some meal, and, 
after a short time, returned. I offered him a handsome present 
of beads ; but these he declined, and demanded a cloth instead, 
which was far more than the value of his gift. They did the 
same with my men, until we had to refuse presents altogether. 
Others made high demands because I slept in a " house of cloth," 
and must be rich. They seemed to think that they had a perfect 
right to payment for simply passing through the country. 

Beyond the Chikapa we crossed the Kamaue, a small deep 
stream proceeding from the S.S.W., and flowing into the Chikapa. 

On the 30th of April we reached the Loajima, where we had 
to form a bridge to effect our passage. This was not so difficult 



486 MODES OF DRESSING THE HAIR. 

an operation as some might imagine ; for a tree was growing in a 
horizontal position across part of the stream, and, there being no 
want of the tough climbing plants which admit of being knitted 
like ropes, Senhor P. soon constructed a bridge. The Loajima 
was here about twenty-five yards wide, but very much deeper 
than where I had crossed before on the shoulders of Mashauana. 
The last rain of this season had fallen on the 28th, and had sud- 
denly been followed by a great decrease of the temperature. The 
people in these parts seemed more slender in form, and their 
color a lighter olive, than any we had hitherto met. The mode 
of dressing the great masses of woolly hair which lay upon their 
shoulders, together with their general features, again reminded 
me of the ancient Egyptians. Several were seen with the upward 
inclination of the outer angles of the eye, but this was not 
general. A few of the ladies adopt a curious custom of attach- 
ing the hair to a hoop which encircles the head, giving it some- 




No. 1. A Londa Lady's Mode of wearing the Hair. 

what the appearance of the glory round the head of the Virgin 
(wood-cut No. 1). Some have a small hoop behind that repre- 
sented in the wood-cut. Others wear an ornament of woven hair 
and hide adorned with beads. The hair of the tails of buffaloes, 
which are to be found farther east, is sometimes added. This is 



MODES OF DEESSING THE HAIR 



487 



represented in No. 2. While others, as in No. 3, weave their 
own hair on pieces of hide into the form of buffalo horns ; or, 




as in No. 4, make a single horn in front. The features given 
are frequently met with, but they are by no means universal. 
Many tattoo their bodies by inserting some black substance 




488 



MODES OF DRESSING THE HAIR. 



beneath, the skin, which leaves an elevated cicatrix about half an 
inch long : these are made in the form of stars, and other figures 
of no particular beauty. 




No. 4. A Young Man's Fashion. 



PECULIARITIES OF NATIVES. 439 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Make a Detour southward. — ^Peculiarities of the Inhabitants. — Scarcity of An- 
imals. — Forests. — Geological Structure of the Country.-?- Abundance and Cheap- 
ness of Food near the Chihombo. — A Slave lost. — The Makololo Opinion of 
Slaveholders. — Funeral Obsequies in Cabango. — Send a Sketch of the Coun- 
try to Mr. Gabriel. — Native Information respecting the Kasai and Quango. — 
The Trade vs^ith Luba. — Drainage of Londa. — Report of Matiamvo's Country 
and Government. — Senhor Faria's Present to a Chief. — The Balonda Mode of 
spending Time. — Faithless Guide. — Makololo lament the Ignorance of the Ba- 
londa. — Eagerness of the Villagers for Trade. — Civility of a Female Chief. — 
The Chief Bango and his People. — Refuse to eat Beef. — Ambition of Africans 
to have a Village. — "Winters in the Interior. — Spring at Kolobeng. — White Ants : 
"Never could desire to eat any thing better." — Young Herbage and Animals. — 
Valley of the Loembwe. — The white Man a Hobgoblin. — Specimen of Quarrel- 
ing. — Eager Desire for Calico. — Want of Clothing at Kawawa's. — Funeral Ob- 
servances. — Agreeable Intercourse with Kawawa. — His impudent Demand. — 
Unpleasant Parting. — Kawawa tries to prevent our crossing the River Kasai. — 
Stratagem. 

We made a little detour to the southward in order to get pro- 
visions in a cheaper market. This led us along the rivulet called 
Tamba, where we found the people, who had not heen visited so 
frequently by the slave-traders as the rest, rather timid and very 
civil. It was agreeable to get again among the uncontaminated, 
and to see the natives look at us without that air of supercilious- 
ness which is so unpleasant and common in the beaten track. 
The same olive color prevailed. They file their teeth to a point, 
which makes the smile of the women frightful, as it reminds one 
of the grin of an alligator. The inhabitants throughout this 
country exhibit as great a variety of taste as appears on the 
surface of society among ourselves. Many of the men are 
dandies ; their shoulders are always wet with the oil dropping 
from their lubricated hair, and every thing about them is orna- 
mented in one way or another. Some thrum a musical instrument 
the livelong day, and, when they wake at night, proceed at once 
to their musical performance. Many of these musicians are too 
poor to have iron keys to their instrument, but make them of 



490 SCAECITY OF ANIMALS.— rORESTS. 

bamlboo, and persevere, though no one hears the music but them- 
selves. Others try to appear warlike by never going out of their 
huts except with a load of bows and arrows, or a gun ornamented 
with a strip of hide for every animal they have shot ; and others 
never go any where without a canary in a cage. Ladies may be 
seen carefully tending little lap-dogs, which are intended to ba 
eaten. Their villages are generally in forests, and composed of 
groups of irregularly -planted brown huts, with banana and cotton 
trees, and tobacco growing around. There is also at every hut a 
high stage erected for drying manioc roots and meal, and elevated 
caffes to hold domestic fowls. Bound baskets are laid on the 
thatch of the huts for the hens to lay in, and on the arrival of 
strangers, men, women, and children ply their calling as hucksters 
with a great deal of noisy haggling ; all their transactions are con- 
ducted with civil banter and good temper. 

My men, having the meat of the oxen which we slaughtered 
from time to time for sale, were entreated to exchange it for meal; 
no matter how small the pieces offered were, it gave them pleasure 
to deal. , 

The landscape around is green, with a tint of yellow, the grass 
long, the paths about a foot wide, and generally worn deeply in 
the middle. The tall overhanging' grass, when brushed against 
•by the feet and legs, disturbed the lizards and mice, and occasion- 
ally a serpent, causing a rustling among the herbage. There are 
not many birds ; every animal is entrapped and eaten. Gins are 
seen on both sides of the path every ten or fifteen yards, for miles 
together. The time and labor required to dig up moles and mice 
from their burrows would, if applied to cultivation, afford food 
for any amount of fowls or swine, but the latter are seldom met 
with. 

We passed on through forests abounding in climbing-plants, 
many of which are so extremely tough that a man is required to 
go in front with a hatchet ; and when the burdens of the carriers 
are caught, they are obliged to cut the climbers with their teeth, 
for no amount of tugging will make them break. The paths in 
all these forests are so zigzag that a person may imagine he has 
traveled a distance of thirty miles, which, when reckoned as the 
crow flies, may not be fifteen. 

We reached the Eiver Moamba (lat. 9° 38^ S., long. 20° 13^ 34^' 



GEOLOGICAL STRUCTUKE. 491 

E.) on the Tth May. This is a stream of thirty yards wide, and, 
like the Quilo, Loange, Chikapa, and Loajima, contains "both alli- 
gators and hippopotami. We crossed it by means of canoes. 
Here, as on the slopes down to the Quilo and Chikapa, we had an 
opportunity of viewing the geological structure of the country — 
a capping of ferruginous conglomerate, which in many parts looks 
as if it had been melted, for the rounded nodules resemble masses 
of slag, and they have a smooth scale on the surface ; but in all 
probability it is an aqueous deposit, for it contains water-worn 
pebbles of all sorts, and generally small. Below this mass lies a 
pale red hardened sandstone, and beneath that a trap-like whin- 
stone. Lowest of aU lies a coarse-grained sandstone containing a 
few pebbles, and, in connection with it, a white calcareous rock is 
occasionally met with, and so are banks of loose round quartz peb- 
bles. The slopes are longer from the level country above the fur- 
ther we go eastward, and every where we meet with circumscribed 
bogs on them, surrounded by clumps of straight, lofty evergreen 
trees, which look extremely graceful on a ground of yellowish 
grass. Several of these bogs pour forth a solution of iron, which 
exhibits on its surface the prismatic colors. The level plateaus 
between the rivers, both east and west of the Moamba, across 
which we traveled, were less woody than the river glens. The 
trees on them are scraggy and wide apart. There are also large 
open grass-covered spaces, with scarcely even a bush. Qn these 
rather dreary intervals between the rivers it was impossible not 
to be painfully struck with the absence of all animal life. Not a 
bird was to be seen, except occasionally a tomtit, some of the 
Sylviadm and Drymoica, also a black bird {Dicrurus JLudwigii, 
Smith) common throughout the country. We were gladdened 
by the voice of birds only near the rivers, and there they are 
neither numerous nor varied. The Senegal longclaw, however, 
maintains its place, and is the largest bird seen. We saw a 
butcher-bird in a trap as we passed. There are remarkably few 
small animals, they having been hunted almost to extermination, 
and few insects except ants, which abound in considerable number 
and variety. There are scarcely any common flies to be seen, nor 
are we ever troubled by musquitoes. 

The air is still, hot, and oppressive ; the intensely bright sun- 
light glances peacefully on the evergreen forest leaves, and all 



492 CHEAPNESS OP FOOD. 

feel glad when the path comes into the shade. The want of life 
in the scenery made me long to tread again the banks of the Zam- 
besi, and see the graceful antelopes feeding beside the dark buffa- 
loes and sleek elands. Here hippopotami are known to exist only 
by their footprints on the banks. Not one is ever seen to blow or 
put his head up at aU ; they have learned to breathe in silence 
and keep out of sight. We never heard one uttering the snorting 
sound so common on the Zambesi. 

We crossed two small streams, the Kanesi and Fombeji, before 
reaching Cabango, a village situated on the banks of the Chihom- 
bo. The country was becoming more densely peopled as we pro- 
ceeded, but it bears no population compared to what it might 
easily sustain. Provisions were to be had in great abundance ; a 
fowl and basket of meal weighing 20 lbs. were sold for a yard and 
a half of very inferior cotton cloth, worth not more than three- 
pence. An idea of the cheapness of food may be formed from the 
fact that Captain Neves purchased 380 lbs. of tobacco from the 
Bangalas for about two pounds sterling. This, when carried into 
central Londa, might purchase seven thousand five hundred fowls, 
or feed with meal and fowls seven thousand persons for one day, 
giving each a fowl and 5 lbs. of meal. When food is purchased 
here with either salt or coarse calico, four persons can be well fed 
with animal and vegetable food at the rate of one penny a day. 
The chief vegetable food is the manioc and lotsa meal. These 
contain a very large proportion of starch, and, when eaten alone 
for any length of time produce most distressing heartburn. As 
we ourselves experienced in coming north, they also cause a M^eak- 
ness of vision, which occurs in the case of animals fed on pure 
gluten or amylaceous matter only. I now discovered that when 
these starchy substances are eaten along with a proportion of 
ground-nuts, which contain a considerable quantity of oil, no inju- 
rious effects follow. 

While on the way to Cabango we saw fresh tracks of elands, 
the first we had observed in this country. A poor little slave girl, 
being ill, turned aside in the path, and, though we waited all the 
next day making search for her, she was lost. She was tall and 
slender for her age, as if of too quick growth, and probably, unable 
to bear the fatigue of the march, lay down and slept in the forest, 
then, waking in the dark, went farther and farther astray. The 



FUNERAL OBSEQUIES. 493 

treatment of the slaves witnessed by my men certainly did not 
raise slaveholders in their estimation. Their usual exclamation 
was " Ga ba aia pelu" (They have no heart) ; and they added, 
with reference to the slaves, "Why do they let them ?" as if they 
thought that the slaves had the natural right to rid the world of 
such heartless creatures, .and ought to do it. The uneasiness of 
the trader was continually showing itself, and, upon the whole, he 
had reason to be on the alert both day and night. The carriers 
perpetually stole the goods intrusted to their care, and he could 
not openly accuse them, lest they should plunder him of all, and 
leave him quite in the lurch. He could only hope to manage them 
after getting all the remaining goods safely into a house in Ca- 
bango ; he might then deduct something from their pay for what 
they had purloined on the way. 

Cabango (lat. 9° 31^ S., long, 20° 31^ or 32^ E.) is the dwelling- 
place of Muanzanza, one of Matiamvo's subordinate chiefs. His 
village consists of about two hundred huts and ten or twelve 
square houses, constructed of poles with grass interwoven. The 
latter are occupied by half-caste Portuguese from Ambaca, agents 
for the Cassange traders. The cold in the mornings was now 
severe to the feelings, the thermometer ranging from 58° to 60°, 
though, when protected, sometimes standing as high as 64° at six 
A.M. When the sun is well up, the thermometer in the shade 
rises to 80°, and in the evenings it is about 78°. 

A person having died in this village, we could transact no 
business with the chief until the funeral obsequies were finished. 
These occupy about four days, during which there is a constant 
succession of dancing, wailing, and feasting. Guns are fired by 
day, and drums beaten by night, and all the relatives, dressed in 
fantastic caps, keep up the ceremonies with spirit proportionate 
to the amount of beer and beef expended. When there is a large 
expenditure, the remark is often made afterward, " What a fine 
funeral that was!" A figure, consisting chiefly of feathers and 
beads, is paraded on these occasions, and seems to be regarded as 
an idol. 

Having met with an accident to one of my eyes by a blow 
from a branch in passing through a forest, I remained some days 
here, endeavoring, though with much pain, to draw a sketch of 
the country thus far, to be sent back to Mr. Gabriel at Loanda. 



494 THE KASAI AND QUANGO. 

I was always anxious to transmit an account of my discoveries on 
every possible occasion, lest, any thing happening in the country 
to which I was going, they should be entirely lost. I also fondly 
expected a packet of letters and papers which my good angel at 
Loanda would be sure to send if they came to hand, but I after- 
ward found that, though he had offered a large sura to any one 
who would return with an assurance of having delivered the last 
packet he sent, no one followed me with it to Cabango. The 
unwearied attentions of this good Englishman, from his first wel- 
come to me when,. a weary, dejected, and worn-down stranger, I 
arrived at his residence, and his whole subsequent conduct, will 
be held in lively remembrance by me to my dying day. 

Several of the native traders here having visited the country of 
Luba, lying far to the north of this, and there being some visitors 
also from the town of Mai, which is situated far down the Kasai, 
I picked up some information respecting those distant partSi In 
going to the town of Mai the traders crossed only two large rivers, 
the Loajima and Chihombo. The Kasai flows a little to the east 
of the town of Mai, and near it there is a large waterfall. They 
describe the Kasai as being there of very great size, and that it 
thence bends round to the west. On asking an old man, who 
was about to return to his chief Mai, to imagine himself stand- 
ing at his home, and point to the confluence of the Quango and 
Kasai, he immediately turned, and, pointing to the westward, said, 
"When we travel five days (thirty-five or forty miles) in that 
direction, we come to it." He stated also that the Kasai received 
another river, named the Lubilash. There is but one opinion 
among the Balonda respecting the Kasai and Quango. They inva- 
riably describe the Kasai as receiving the Quango, and, beyond 
the confluence, assuming the name of Zaire or Zerezere. And 
the Kasai, even previous to the junction, is much larger than the 
Quango, from the numerous branches it receives. Besides those 
we have already crossed, there is the Chihombo at Cabango ; 
and forty-two miles beyond this, eastward, runs the Kasai itself; 
fourteen miles beyond that, the Kaunguesi ; then, forty-two miles 
farther east, flows the Lolua ; besides numbers of little streams, 
all of which contribute to swell the Kasai. 

About thirty-four miles east of the Lolua, or a hundred and 
thirty-two miles E.N.E. of Cabango, stands the town of Matiamvo, 



DEAINAGE OF LONDA. 495 

the paramount chief of all the Balonda. The town of Mai is 
pointed out as to the N.N.W. of Cabango, and thirty-two days or 
two hundred and twenty-four miles distant, or ahout lat. S. 5° 45^ 
The chief town of Luba, another independent chief, is eight days 
farther in the same direction, or lat. S. 4° 50^. Judging from the 
appearance of the people who had come for the purposes of 
trade from Mai, those in the north are in quite as uncivilized a 
condition as the Balonda. They are clad in a kind of cloth made 
of the inner hark of a tree. Neither guns nor native traders are 
admitted into the country, the chief of Luha entertaining a dread 
of innovation. If a native trader goes thither, he must dress like 
the common people in Angola, in a loose robe resembling a kilt. 
The chief trades in shells and beads only. His people kill the 
elephants by means of spears, poisoned arrows, and traps. All 
assert that elephants' tusks from that country are heavier and 
of greater length than any others. 

It is evident, from all the information I could collect both here 
and elsewhere, that the drainage of Londa falls to the north and 
then runs westward. The countries of Luba and Mai are evidently 
lower than this, and yet this is of no great altitude — probably not 
much more than 3500 feet above the level of the sea. Having 
here received pretty certain information on a point in which I felt 
much interest, namely, that the Kasai is not navigable from the 
coast, owing to the large waterfall near the town of Mai, and that 
no great kingdom exists in the region beyond, between this and 
the equator, I would fain have visited Matiamvo. This seemed a 
very desirable step, as it is good policy as well as right to ac- 
knowledge the sovereign of a country; and I was assured, both 
by Balonda and native traders, that a considerable branch of the 
Zambesi rises in the country east of his town, and flows away to 
the south. The whole of this branch, extending down even to 
where it turns westward to Masiko, is probably placed too far 
eastward on the map. It was put down when I believed 
Matiamvo and Cazembe to be farther east than I have since 
seen reason to believe them. All, being derived from native 
testimony, is offered to the reader with diffidence, as needing 
verification by actual explorers. The people of that part, named 
Kanyika and Kanyoka, living on its banks, are represented as 
both numerous and friendly, but Matiamvo will on no account 



496 MATIAMVO'S COUNTKY AND GOVERNMENT. 

permit any white person to visit them, as his principal supplies of 
ivorj are drawn from them. Thinking that we might descend 
this branch of the Zambesi to Masiko, and thence to the Barotse, I 
felt a strong inclination to make the attempt. The goods, howev- 
er, we had brought with us to pay our way, had, by the long de- 
tention from fever and weakness in both myself and men, dwin- 
dled to a mere fragment ; and, being but slightly acquainted with 
the Balonda dialect, I felt that I could neither use persuasion nor 
presents to effect my object. From all I could hear of Matiamvo, 
there was no chance of my being allowed to proceed through his 
country to the southward. If I had gone merely to visit him, all 
the goods would have been expended by the time I returned to 
Cabango ; and we had not found mendicity so pleasant on our way 
to the north as to induce us to desire to return to it. 

The country of Matiamvo is said to be well peopled, but they 
have little or no trade. They receive calico, salt, gunpowder, 
coarse earthenware, and beads, and give in return ivory and slaves. 
They possess no cattle, Matiamvo alone having a single herd, 
which he keeps entirely for the sake of the flesh. The present 
chief is said to be mild in his government, and will depose an un- 
der-chief for unjust conduct. He occasionally sends the distance 
of a hundred miles or more to behead an offending officer. But, 
though I was informed by the Portuguese that he possesses abso- 
lute power, his name had less influence over his subjects with 
whom I came in contact than that of Sekeletu has over his peo- 
ple living at a much greater distance from the capital. 

As we thought it best to strike away to the S.E. from Cabango 
to our old friend Katema, I asked a guide from Muanzanza as 
soon as the funeral proceedings were over. He agreed to furnish 
one, and also accepted a smaller present from me than usual, 
when it was represented to him by Pascoal and Faria that I was 
not a trader. He seemed to regard these presents as his proper 
dues ; and as a cargo of goods had come by Senhor Pascoal, he 
entered the house for the purpose of receiving, his share, when 
Senhor Faria gravely presented him with the commonest earthen- 
ware vessel, of which great numbers are brought for this trade. 
The chief received it with expressions of abundant gratitude, as 
these vessels are highly valued, because from their depth they can 
hold so much food or beer. The association of ideas is some- 



A FAITHLESS GUIDE. 497 

times SO very ludicrous that it is difficult to maintain one's 
gravity. 

Several of the children of the late Matiamvo came to beg from 
me, but never to offer any food. Having spoken to one young man 
named Liula (Heavens) about their stinginess, he soon brought 
bananas and manioc. I liked his appearance and conversation, 
and believe that the Balonda would not be difficult to teach, but 
their mode of life would be a drawback. The Balonda in this 
quarter are much more agreeable-looking than any of the inhab- 
itants nearer the coast. The women allow their teeth to remain 
in their beautifully white state, and would be comely but for the 
custom of inserting pieces of reed into the cartilage of the nose. 
They seem generally to be in good spirits, and spend their time 
in everlasting talk, funeral ceremonies, and marriages. This flow 
of animal spirits must be one reason why they are such an inde- 
structible race. The habitual influence on their minds of the 
agency of unseen spirits may have a tendency in the same direc- 
tion, by preserving the mental quietude of a kind of fatalism. 

We were forced to prepay our guide and his father too, and he 
went but one day, although he promised to go with us to Katema. 
He was not in the least ashamed at breaking his engagements, 
and probably no disgrace will be attached to the deed by Muan- 
zanza. Among the Bakwains he would have been punished. My 
men would have stripped him of the wages which he wore on his 
person, but thought that, as we had always acted on the mildest 
principles, they would let him move off with his unearned gains. 

They frequently lamented the want of knowledge in these peo- 
ple, saying, in their own tongue, "Ah! they don't know that we 
are men as well as they, and that we are only bearing with their 
insolence with patience because we are men." Then would follow 
a hearty curse, showing that the patience was nearly expended ; 
but they seldom quarreled in the language of the Balonda. The 
only one who ever lost his temper was the man who struck a head 
man of one of the villages on the mouth, and he was the most ab- 
ject individual in our company. 

The reason why we needed a guide at all was to secure the 
convenience of a path, which, though generally no better than a 
sheep-walk, is much easier than going straight in one direction, 
through tangled forests and tropical vegetation. We knew the 

Ii 



498 CIVILITY OF A FEMALE CHIEF. 

general direction we ought to follow, and also if any deviation 
occurred from our proper route ; but, to avoid impassable forests 
and untreadable bogs, and to get to the proper fords of the rivers, 
we always tried to procure a guide, and he always followed the 
common path from one village to another when that lay in the 
direction we were going. 

After leaving Cabango on the 21st, we crossed several little 
•streams running into the Chihombo on our left, and in one of 
them I saw tree ferns [Cyathea dregei) for the first time in Africa. 
The trunk was about four feet high and ten inches in diameter. 
We saw also grass trees of two varieties, which, in damp localities, 
had attained a height of forty feet. On crossing the Chihombo, 
which we did about twelve miles above Cabango, we found it 
waist-deep and rapid. We were delighted to see the evidences of 
buffalo and hippopotami on its banks. As soon as we got away 
from the track of the slave-traders, the more kindly spirit of the 
southern Balonda appeared, for an old man brought a large pres- 
ent of food from one of the villages, and volunteered to go as guide 
himself. The people, however, of the numerous villages which 
we passed always made efforts to detain us, that they might have 
a little trade in the way of furnishing our suppers. At one vil- 
lage, indeed, they would not show us the path at all unless we re- 
mained at least a day with them. Having refused, we took a path 
in the direction we ought to go, but it led us into an inextricable 
thicket. Eeturning to the village again, we tried another footpath 
in a similar direction, but this led us into an equally impassable 
and trackless forest. We were thus forced to come back and re- 
main. In the following morning they put us in the proper path, 
which in a few hours led us through a forest that would otherwise 
have taken us days to penetrate. 

Beyond this forest we found the village of Nyakalonga, a sister 
of the late Matiamvo, who treated us handsomely. She wished 
her people to guide us to the next village, but this they declined 
unless we engaged in trade. She then requested us to wait an 
hour or two till she could get ready a present of meal, manioc 
roots, ground-nuts, and a fowl. It was truly pleasant to meet 
with people possessing some civility, after the hauteur we had 
experienced on the slave-path. She sent her son to the next 
village without requiring payment. The stream which ran past 



DESIEE TO POSSESS A VILLAGE. 499 

her village was quite impassable there, and for a distance of about 
a mile on either side, the bog being soft and shaky, and, when the 
crust was broken through, about six feet deep. 

On the 28th we ^reached the village of the chief Bango (lat. 
12° 22' 53'' S., long. 20° 58' E.), who brought us a handsome 
present of meal, and the meat of an entire pallah. We here 
slaughtered the last of the cows presented to us by Mr. Schut, 
which I had kept milked until it gave only a teaspoonful at a 
time. My men enjoyed a hearty laugh when they found that I 
had given up all hope of more, for they had been talking among 
themselves abou.t my perseverance. We offered a leg of the cow 
to Bango, but he informed us that neither he nor his people ever 
partook of beef, as they looked upon cattle as human, and living 
at home like men. None of his people purchased any of the 
meat, which was always eagerly done every where else. There 
are several other tribes who refuse to keep cattle,'though not to 
eat them when offered by others, because, say they, oxen bring 
enemies and war ; but this is the first instance I have met with in 
which they have been refused as food. The fact of killing the 
pallahs for food shows that the objection does not extend to meat 
in general. 

The little streams in this part of the country did not flow in 
deep dells, nor were we troubled with the gigantic grasses which 
annoyed our eyes on the slopes of the streams before we came to 
Cabango. The country was quite flat, and the people cultivated 
manioc very extensively. There is no large collection of the 
inhabitants in any one spot. The ambition of each seems to be 
to have his own little village ; and we see many coming from 
distant parts with the flesh of buffaloes and antelopes as the trib- 
ute claimed by Bango. We have now entered again the country 
of the game, but they are so exceedingly shy that we have not 
yet seen a single animal. The arrangement into many villages 
pleases the Africans vastly, for every one who has a few huts under 
him feels himself in some measure to be a chief. The country at 
this time is covered with yellowish grass quite dry. Some of the 
bushes and trees are green ; others are shedding their leaves, the 
young buds pushing off the old foliage. Trees, which in the south 
stand bare during the winter months, have here but a short period 
of leaflessness. Occasionally, however, a cold north wind comes 



500 SPRING AT KOLOBENG. - 

up even as far as Cabango, and spreads a wintrj aspect on all the 
exposed vegetation. The tender shoots of the evergreen trees 
on the south side become as if scorched ; the leaves of manioc, 
pumpkins, and other tender plants are killed ; while the same 
kinds, in spots sheltered by forests, continue green through the 
whole year. All the interior of South Africa has a distinct win- 
ter of cold, varying in intensity with the latitudes. In the cen- 
tral parts of the Cape Colony the cold in the winter is often severe, 
and the ground is covered with snow. At Kuruman snow sel- 
dom falls, but the frost is keen. There is frost even as far as the 
Chobe, and a partial winter in the Barotse valley, but beyond 
the Orange River we never have cold and damp combined. In- 
deed, a shower of rain seldom or never falls during winter, and 
hence the healthiness of the Bechuana climate. From the 
Barotse valley northward it is questionable if it ever freezes ; 
but, during the prevalence of the south wind, the thermome- 
ter sinks as low as 42°, and conveys the impression of bitter 
cold. 

Nothing can exceed the beauty of the change from the wintry 
appearance to that of spring at Kolobeng. Previous to the com- 
mencement of the rains, an easterly wind blows strongly by day, 
but dies away at night. The clouds collect in increasing masses, 
and relieve in some measure the bright glare of the southern sun. 
The wind dries up every thing, and when at its greatest strength 
is hot, and raises clouds of dust. The general temperature dur- 
ing the day rises above 96° : then showers begin to fall ; and if 
the ground is but once well soaked with a good day's rain, the 
change produced is marvelous. In a day or two a tinge of green 
is apparent all over the landscape, and in five or six days the 
fresh leaves sprouting forth, and the young grass shooting up, give 
an appearance of spring which it requires weeks of a colder cli- 
mate to produce. The birds, which in the hot, dry, windy se^-son 
had been silent, now burst forth into merry twittering songs, and 
are busy building their nests. Some of them, indeed, hatch sev- 
eral times a year. The lowering of the temperature, by rains or 
other causes, has much the same effect as the increasing mildness 
of our own spring. The earth teems with myriads of young in- 
sects ; in some parts of the country hundreds of centipedes, myri- 
apedes, and beetles emerge from their hiding-places, somewhat as 



WHITE ANTS. 501 

our snails at home do ; and in the evenings the white ants swarm 
hy thousands. A stream of them is seen to rush out of a hole, 
and, after flying one or two hundred yards, they descend ; and if 
they light upon a piece of soil proper for the commencement of a 
new colony, they bend up their tails, unhook their wings, and, 
leaving them on the surface, quickly begin their mining operations. 
If an attempt is made to separate the wings from the body by 
drawing them away backward, they seem as if hooked into the 
body, and tear away large portions of the insect ; but if turned for- 
ward, as the ant itself does, they snap off with the greatest ease. 
Indeed, they seem formed only to serve the insect in its short 
flight to a new habitation, and then to be thrown aside. Nothing 
can exceed the eagerness with which, at the proper time, they rush 
out from their birth-place. Occasionally this occurs in a house, 
and then, in order to prevent every corner from being filled with 
them, I have seen a fire placed over the orifice ; but they hesitate 
not even to pass through the fire. While swarming they appear 
like snow-flakes floating about in the air, and dogs, cats, hawks, 
and almost every bird, may be seen busily devouring them. The 
natives, too, profit by the occasion, and actively collect them for 
food, they being about half an inch long, as thick as a crow-quill, 
and very fat. When roasted they are said to be good, and some- 
what resemble grains of boiled rice. An idea may be formed of 
this dish by what once occurred on the banks of the Zouga. The 
Bayeiye chief Palani visiting us while eating, I gave him a piece 
of bread and preserved apricots ; and as he seemed to relish it 
much, I asked him if he had any food equal to that in his country. 
"Ah!" said he, "did you ever taste white ants?" As I never 
had, he replied, "Well, if you had, you never could have desired 
to eat any thing better." The general way of catching them is 
to dig into the ant-hill, and wait till the builders come forth to re- 
pair the damage, then brush them ofi^ quickly into a vessel, as the 
ant-eater does into his mouth. 

The fall of the rain makes all the cattle look fresh and clean, 
and both men and women proceed cheerily to their already hoed 
gardens, and sow the seed. The large animals in the country 
leave the spots where they had been compelled to congregate for 
the sake of water, and become much wilder. Occasionally a herd 
of bufaloes or antelopes smell rain from afar, and set off in a 



502 VALLEY OF THE LOEMBWE. 

straight line toward the place. Sometimes they make mistakes, 
and are obliged to return to the water they had left. 

Very large tracts of country are denuded of old grass during 
the winter by means of fire, in order to attract the game to that 
which there springs up unmixed with the older crop. This new 
herbage has a renovating tendency, for as long as they feed on 
the dry grass of the former season they continue in good condi- 
tion; but no sooner are they able to indulge their appetites on 
the fresh herbage, than even the marrow in their bones becomes 
dissolved, and a red, soft, uneatable mass is left behind. After 
this commences the work of regaining their former plumpness. 

May 30tk. We left Bango, and proceeded to the Eiver 
Loembwe, which flows to the N.N.E., and abounds in hippo- 
potami. It is about sixty yards wide, and four feet deep, but 
usually contains much less water than this, for there are fishing- 
weirs placed right across it. Like all the African rivers in this 
quarter, it has morasses on each bank, yet the valley in which it 
winds, when seen from the high lands above, is extremely beau- 
tiful. This valley is about the fourth of a mile wide, and it was 
easy to fancy the similarity of many spots on it to the goodly 
manors in our own country, and feel assured that there was still 
ample territory left for an indefinite increase of the world's popu- 
lation. The villages are widely apart and difficult of access, from 
the paths being so covered with tall grass that even an ox can 
scarcely follow the track. The grass cuts the feet of the men; 
yet we met a woman with a little child, and a girl, wending their 
way home with loads of manioc. The sight of a white man always 
infuses a tremor into their dark bosoms, and in every case of the 
kind they appeared immensely relieved when I had fairly passed 
without having sprung upon them. In the villages the dogs run 
away with their tails between their legs, as if they had seen a 
lion. The women peer from behind the walls till he comes near 
them, and then hastily dash into the house. When a little child, 
unconscious of danger, meets you in the street, he sets up a scream 
at the apparition, and conveys the impression that he is not far 
from going into fits. Among the Bechuanas I have been obliged 
to reprove the women for making a hobgoblin of the white man, 
and telling their children that they would send for him to bite 
them. 



SPECIMEN OF QUARRELING. 503 

Having passed the Loemlbwe, we were in a more open country, 
with every few hours a small valley, through which ran a little rill 
in the middle of a bog. These were always difficult to pass, and 
being numerous, kept the lower part of the person constantly wet. 
At different points in our course we came upon votive offerings to 
the Barimo. These usually consisted of food ; and every deserted 
village still contained the idols and little sheds with pots of medi- 
cine in them. One afternoon we passed a small frame house with 
the head of an ox in it as an object of worship. The dreary uni- 
formity of gloomy forests and open flats must have a depressing 
influence on the minds of the people. Some villages appear more 
superstitious than others, if we may judge from the greater number 
of idols they contain. 

Only on one occasion did we witness a specimen of quarreling. 
An old woman, standing by our camp, continued to belabor a 
good-looking young man for hours with her tongue. Irritated at 
last, he uttered some words of impatience, when another man 
sprang at him, exclaiming, "How dare you curse my 'Mama?'" 
They caught each other, and a sort of pushing, dragging wrest- 
ling-match ensued. The old woman who had been the cause of 
the affray wished us to interfere, and the combatants themselves 
hoped as much ; but we, preferring to remain neutral, allowed 
them to fight it out. It ended by one falling under the other, 
both, from their scuffling, being in a state of nudity. They 
picked up their clothing and ran off in different directions, each 
threatening to bring his gun and settle the dispute in mortal 
combat. Only one, however, returned, and the old woman con- 
tinued her scolding till my men, fairly tired of her tongue, ordered 
her to be gone. This trifling incident was one of interest to me, 
for, during the whole period of my residence in the Bechuana 
country, I never saw unarmed men strike each other. Their 
disputes are usually conducted with great volubility and noisy 
swearing, but they generally terminate by both parties bursting 
into a laugh. 

At every village attempts were made to induce us to remain a 
night. Sometimes large pots of beer were offered to us as a 
temptation. Occasionally the head man would peremptorily order 
us to halt under a tree which he pointed out. At other times 
young men volunteered to guide us to the impassable part of the 



504 FUNERAL OBSERVANCES. 

next bog, in the hope of bringing us to a stand, for all are excess- 
ively eager to trade ; but food was so very cheap that we some- 
times preferred paying them to keep it, and let us part in good 
humor. A good-sized fowl could be had for a single charge of 
gunpowder. Each native who owns a gun carries about with him 
a measure capable of holding but one charge, in which he receives 
his powder. Throughout this region the women are almost en- 
tirely naked, their gowns being a patch of cloth frightfully narrow, 
with no flounces ; and nothing could exceed the eagerness with 
which they offered to purchase strips of calico of an inferior de- 
scription. They were delighted with the large pieces we gave, 
though only about two feet long, for a fowl and a basket of up- 
ward of 20 lbs. of meal. As we had now only a small remnant 
of our stock, we were obliged to withstand their importunity, and 
then many of their women, with true maternal feelings, held up 
their little naked babies, entreating us to sell only a little rag for 
them. The fire, they say, is their only clothing by night, and the 
little ones derive heat by sticking closely to their parents. Instead 
of a skin or cloth to carry their babies in, the women plait a belt 
about four inches broad, of the inner bark of a tree, and this, hung 
from the one shoulder to the opposite side, like a soldier's belt, 
enables them to support the child by placing it on their side in a 
sitting position. Their land is very fertile, and they can raise 
ground-nuts and manioc in abundance. Here I observed no cot- 
ton, nor any domestic animals except fowls and little dogs. The 
chief possessed a few goats, and I never could get any satisfactory 
reason why the people also did not rear them. 

On the evening of the 2d of June we reached the village of Ka- 
wawa, rather an important personage in these parts. This village 
consists of forty or fifty huts, and is surrounded by forest. Drums 
were beating over the body of a man who had died the preceding 
day, and some women were making a clamorous wail at the door 
of his hut, and addressing the deceased as if alive. The drums 
continued beating the whole night, with as much regularity as a 
steam-engine thumps on board ship. We observed that a person 
dressed fantastically with a great number of feathers left the peo- 
ple at the dance and wailing, and went away into the deep forest 
in the morning, to return again to the obsequies in the evening ; 
he is intended to represent one of the Barimo. 



KAWAWA'S DEMAND. 505 

In the morning we had agreeable intercourse with Kawawa ; he 
visited us, and we sat and talked nearly the whole day with him 
and his people. When we visited him in return, we found him in 
his large court-house, which, though of a beehive shape, was re- 
markably well built. As I had shown him a number of curiosi- 
ties, he now produced a jug, of English ware, shaped like an old 
man holding a can of beer in his hand, as the greatest curiosity he 
had to exhibit. 

We had now an opportunity of hearing a case brought before 
him for judgment. A poor man and his wife were accused of 
having bewitched the man whose wake was now held in the 
village. Before Kawawa even heard the defense, he said, " You 
have killed one of my children ; bring all yours before me, that 
I may choose which of them shall be mine instead." The wife 
eloquently defended herself, but this availed little, for these ac- 
cusations are the means resorted to by some chiefs to secure sub- 
jects for the slave-market. He probably thought that I had come 
to purchase slaves, though I had already given a pretty full ex- 
planation of my pursuits both to himself and his people. We 
exhibited the pictures of the magic lantern in the evening, and all 
were delighted except Kawawa himself. He showed symptoms 
of dread, and several times started up as if to run away, but was 
prevented by the crowd behind. Some of the more intelligent 
understood the explanations well, and expatiated eloquently on 
them to the more obtuse. Nothing could exceed the civilities 
which had passed between us during this day ; but Kawawa had 
heard that the Chiboque had forced us to pay an ox, and now 
thought he might do the same. When, therefore, I sent next 
morning to let him know that we were ready to start, he replied 
in his figurative way, "If an ox came in the way of a man, 
ought he not to eat it ? I had given one to the Chiboque, and 
must give him the same, together with a gun, gunpowder, and a 
black robe, like that he had seen spread out to dry the day be- 
fore ; that, if I refused an ox, I must give one of my men, and a 
book by which he might see the state of Matiamvo's heart toward 
him, and which would forewarn him, should Matiamvo ever resolve 
to cut off his head." Kawawa came in the coolest manner possi- 
ble to our encampment after sending this message, and told me 
he had. seen all our goods, and must have all he asked, as he had 



506 UNPLEASANT PAETING. 

command of the Kasai in our front, and would prevent us from 
passing it unless we paid this tribute. I replied that the goods 
were mj property and not his ; that I would never have it said 
that a white man had paid tribute to a black, and that I should 
cross the Kasai in spite of him. He ordered his people to arm 
themselves, and when some of my men saw them rushing for their 
bows, arrows, and spears, they became somewhat panic-stricken, 
I ordered them to move away, and not to fire unless Kawawa's 
people struck the first blow. I took the lead, and expected them 
all to follow, as they usually had done, but many of my men re- 
mained behind. When I knew this, I jumped off the ox, and made 
a rush to them with the revolver in my hand. Kawavv^a ran away 
among his people, and they turned their backs too. I shouted to 
my men to take up their luggage and march ; some did so with 
alacrity, feeling that they had disobeyed orders by remaining ; but 
one of them refused, and was preparing to fire at Kawawa, until I 
gave him a punch on the head with the pistol, and made him go 
too. I felt here, as elsewhere, that subordination must be main- 
tained at all risks. We all moved into the forest, the people of 
Kawawa standing about a hundred yards off, gazing, but not firing 
a shot or an arrow. It is extremely unpleasant to part with these 
chieftains thus, after spending a day or two in the most amicable 
intercourse, and in a part where the people are generally civil. 
This Kawawa, however, is not a good specimen of the Balonda 
chiefs, and is rather notorious in the neighborhood for his folly. 
We were told that he has good reason to believe that Matiamvo 
will some day cut off his head for his disregard of the rights of 
strangers. 

Kawawa was not to be balked of his supposed rights by the 
unceremonious way in which we had left him ; for, when we had 
reached the ford of the Kasai, about ten miles distant, we found 
that he had sent four of his men, with orders to the ferrymen to 
refuse us passage. We were here duly informed that we must 
deliver up all the articles mentioned, and one of our men besides. 
This demand for one of our number always nettled every heart. 
The canoes were taken away before our eyes, and we were sup- 
posed to be quite helpless without them, at a river a good hundred 
yards broad, and very deep. Pitsane stood on the bank, gazing 
with apparent indifference on the stream, and made an accurate 



A STEATAGEM. 507 

observation of where the canoes were hidden among the reeds. 
The ferrymen casually asked one of my Batoka if they had rivers 
in his country, and he answered with truth, ''No, we have none." 
Kawawa's people then felt sure we could not cross. I thought of 
swimming when they were gone ; but after it was dark, by the 
unasked loan of one of the hidden canoes, we soon were snug in 
our bivouac on the southern bank of the Kasai. I left some beads 
as payment for some meal which had been presented by the ferry- 
men ; and, the canoe having been left on their own side of the 
river, Pitsane and his companions laughed uproariously at the dis- 
gust our enemies would feel, and their perplexity as to who had 
been our paddler across. They were quite sure that Kawawa 
would imagine that we had been ferried over by his own people, 
and would be divining to find out who had done the deed. When 
ready to depart in the morning, Kawawa's people appeared on the 
opposite heights, and could scarcely believe their eyes when they 
saw us prepared to start away to the south. At last one of them 
called out, "Ah! ye are bad," to which Pitsane and his compan- 
ions retorted, "Ah! ye are good, and we thank you for the loan 
of your canoe." We were careful to explain the whole of the cir- 
cumstances to Katema and the other chiefs, and they all agreed 
that we were perfectly justifiable under the circumstances, and 
that Matiamvo would approve our conduct. When any thing that 
might bear an unfavorable construction happens among them- 
selves, they send explanations to each other. The mere fact of 
doing so prevents them from losing their character, for there is 
public opinion even among them. 



508 LEVEL PLAINS.— BIRDS. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Level Plains. — ^Vultures and other Birds. — Diversity of Color in Flowers of the 
same Species. — The Sundew. — Twenty-seventh Attack of Fever. — A Eiver which 
flows in opposite Directions. — Lake Dilolo the Watershed between the Atlantic 
and Indian Oceans. — Position of Rocks. — Sir Roderick Murchison's Explanation. 
— Characteristics of the Rainy Season in connection with the Floods of the Zam- 
besi and the Nile. — Probable Reason of Difference in Amount of Rain South and 
North of the Equator. — Arab Reports of Region east of Londa. — Probable Wa- 
tershed of the Zambesi and the Nile. — Lake Dilolo. — Reach Katema's Town: 
his renewed Hospitality ; desire to appear like a White Man ; ludicrous Depart- 
ure. — Jackdaws. — Ford southern Branch of Lake Dilolo. — Small Fish. — Project 
for a Makololo Village near the Confluence of the Leeba and the Leeambye. — 
Hearty Welcome from Shinte. — Kolimbota's Wound. — Plant-seeds and Fruit- 
trees brought from Angola. — Masiko and Limboa's Quarrel. — Nyamoana now a 
Widow. — Purchase Canoes and descend the Leeba. — Herds of wild Animals on 
its Banks. — Unsuccessful Buffalo-hunt. — Frogs. — Sinbad and the Tsetse. — Dis- 
patch a Message to Manenko. — Arrival of her Husband Sambanza. — The Cere- 
mony called Kasendi. — Unexpected Fee for performing a surgical Operation. — 
Social Condition of the Tribes. — Desertion of Mboenga. — Stratagem of Mam- 
bowe Hunters. — Water-turtles.— Charged by a Buffalo. — Reception from the Peo- 
ple of Libonta. — Explain the Causes of our long Delay. — Pitsane's Speech. — 
Thanksgiving Services. — Appearance of my " Braves." — Wonderful Kindness of 
the People. 

After leaving the Kasai, we entered upon the extensive level 
plains which we had formerlj found in a flooded condition. The 
water on them was not yet dried up, as it still remained in cer- 
tain hollow spots. Vultures were seen floating in the air, show- 
ing that carrion was to he found ; and, indeed, we saw several of 
the large game, but so exceedingly wild as to he unapproachable. 
Numbers of caterpillars mounted the stalks of grass, and many 
dragonflies and butterflies appeared, though this was winter. The 
caprimulgus or goat-sucker, swifts, and different kinds of swal- 
lows, with a fiery-red bee-eater in flocks, showed that the lowest 
temperature here does not destroy the insects on which they feed. 
Jet-black larks, with yellow shoulders, enliven the mornings with 
their songs, but they do not continue so long on the wing as ours, 
nor soar so high. We saw many of the pretty white ardea, and 



FLOWEKS.— SUNDEW. 509 

other water-birds, fljing over the spots not yet dried up; and 
occasionallj wild ducks, but these only in numbers sufficient to 
remind us that we were approaching the Zambesi, where every 
water-fowl has a home. 

While passing across these interminable-looking plains, the eye 
rests with pleasure on a small flower, which exists in such num- 
bers as to give its own hue to the ground. One broad band of 
yellow stretches across our path. On looking at the flowers which 
formed this golden carpet, we saw every variety of that color, from 
the palest lemon to the richest orange. Crossing a hundred yards 
of this, we came upon another broad band of the same flower, but 
blue, and this color is varied from the lightest tint to dark blue, 
and even purple. I had before observed the same flower possess- 
ing different colors in different parts of the country, and once 
a great number of liver-colored flowers, which elsewhere were yel- 
low. Even the color of the birds changed with the district we 
passed through ; but never before did I see such a marked change 
as from yellow to blue, repeated again and again on the same 
plain. Another beautiful plant attracted my attention so strong- 
ly on these plains that I dismounted to examine it. To my great 
delight I found it to be an old home acquaintance, a species of 
Drosera, closely resembling our own sundew {Drosera Anglia). 
The flower-stalk never attains a height of more than two or three 
inches, and the leaves are covered with reddish hairs, each of 
which has a drop of clammy fluid at its tip, making the whole ap- 
pear as if spangled over with small diamonds. I noticed it first 
in the morning, and imagined the appearance was caused by the 
sun shining on drops of dew ; but, as it continued to maintain its 
brilliancy during the heat of the day, I proceeded to investigate 
the cause of its beauty, and found that the points of the hairs ex- 
uded pure liquid, in, apparently, capsules of clear, glutinous mat- 
ter. They were thus like dewdrops preserved from evaporation. 
The clammy fluid is intended to entrap insects, which, dying on 
the leaf, probably yield nutriment to the plant. 

During our second day on this extensive plain I suffered from 
my twenty-seventh attack of fever, at a part where no surface- 
water was to be found. We never thought it necessary to carry 
water with us in this region ; and now, when I was quite unable 
• to move on, my men soon found water to allay my burning thirst 



510 PHENOMENON OF THE LOTEMBWA. 

loj digging with sticks a few feet beneath the surface. We had 
thus an opportunity of observing the state of these remarkable 
plains at different seasons of the year. Next day we pursued our 
way, and on the 8th of June we forded the Lotembwa to the N.W. 
of Dilolo, and regained our former path. 

The Lotembwa here is about a mile wide, about three feet deep, 
and full of the lotus, papyrus, arum, mat-rushes, and other aquatic 
plants. I did not observe the course in which the water flowed 
while crossing ; but, having noticed before that the Lotembwa on 
the other side of the Lake Dilolo flowed in a southerly direction, I 
supposed that this was simply a prolongation of the same river 
beyond Dilolo, and that it rose in this large marsh, which we had 
not seen in our progress to the N.W. But when we came to the 
Southern Lotembwa, we were informed by Shakatwala that the 
river we had crossed flowed in an opposite direction — not into Di- 
lolo, but into the Kasai. This phenomenon of a river running in 
opposite directions struck even his mind as strange ; and, though 
I did not observe the current, simply from taking it for granted 
that it was toward the lake, I have no doubt that his assertion, 
corroborated as it was by others, is correct, and that the Dilolo is 
actually the watershed between the river systems that flow to the 
east and west. 

I would have returned in order to examine more carefully this 
most interesting point, but, having had my lower extremities 
chilled in crossing the Northern Lotembwa, I was seized with 
vomiting of blood, and, besides, saw no reason to doubt the native 
testimony. The distance between Dilolo and the valleys leading 
to that of the Kasai is not more than fifteen miles, and the plains 
between are perfectly level ; and, had I returned, I should only 
have found that this little lake Dilolo, by giving a portion to the 
Kasai and another to the Zambesi, distributes its waters to the 
Atlantic and Indian Oceans. I state the fact exactly as it opened 
to my own mind, for it was only now that I apprehended the true 
form of the river systems and continent. I had seen the various 
rivers of this country on the western side flowing from the sub- 
tending ridges into the centre, and had received information from 
natives and Arabs that most of the rivers on the eastern side of 
the same great region took a somewhat similar course from an el- 
evated ridge there, and that all united in two main drains, the one 



POSITION OF EOCKS. 511 

flowing to the north and the other to the south, and that the north- 
ern dram found its way out loj the Congo to the west, and the 
southern by the Zambesi to the east. I was thus on the water- 
shed, or highest point of these two great systems, but still not 
more than 4000 feet above the level of the sea, and 1000 feet lower 
than the top of the western ridge we had already crossed ; yet, 
instead of lofty snow-clad mountains appearing to verify the con- 
jectures of the speculative, we had extensive plains, over which 
one may travel a month without seeing any thing higher than an 
ant-hill or a tree. I was not then aware that any one else had 
discovered the elevated trough form of the centre of Africa. 

I had observed that the old schistose rocks on the sides dipped 
in toward the centre of the country, and their strike nearly cor- 
responded with the major axis of the continent ; and also that 
where the later erupted trap rocks had been spread out in tabular 
masses over the central plateau, they had borne angular fragments 
of the older rocks in their substance ; but the partial generaliza- 
tion which the observations led to was, that great volcanic action 
had taken place in ancient times, somewhat in the same way it 
does now, at distances of not more than three hundred miles from 
the sea, and that this igneous action, extending along both sides 
of the continent, had tilted up the lateral rocks in the manner they 
are now seen to lie. The greater energy and more extended 
range of igneous action in those very remote periods when Africa 
was formed, embracing all the flanks, imparted to it its present 
very simple literal outline. This was the length to which I had 
come. 

The trap rocks, which now constitute the " filling. up" of the 
great valley, were always a puzzle to me till favored with Sir 
Eoderick Murchison's explanation of the original form of the 
continent, for then I could see clearly why these trap rocks, 
which still lie in a perfectly horizontal position on extensive areas, 
held in their substance angular fragments, containing algas of the 
old schists, which form the bottom of the original lacustrine basin : 
the traps, in bursting through, had broken them off and preserved 
them. There are, besides, ranges of hills in the central parts, 
composed of clay and sandstone schists, with the ripple mark dis- 
tinct, in which no fossils appear ; but as they are usually tilted 
away from the masses of horizontal trap, it is probable that they 



512 SIE E. MUKCHISON'S EXPLANATION. 

too were a portion of the original Ibottom, and fossils may yet Ibe 
found in them.* 

The characteristics of the rainy season in this wonderfully 
humid region may account in some measure for the periodical 
floods of the Zarabef/i, and perhaps the Nile. The rains seem to 
foUow the course of the sun, for they fall in October and Novem- 
ber, when the sun passes over this zone on his way south. On 
reaching the tropic of Capricorn in December, it is dry ; and De- 
cember and January are the months in which injurious droughts 
are most dreaded near that tropic (from Kolobeng to Linyanti). 
As he returns again to the north in February, March, and April, 
we have the great rains of the year; and the plains, which in 
October and November were well moistened, and imbibed rain 
like sponges, now become supersaturated, and pour forth those 
floods of clear water which inundate the banks of the Zambesi. 
Somewhat the same phenomenon probably causes the periodical 
inundations of the Nile. The two rivers rise in the same region ; 
but there is a difference in the period of flood, possibly from their 

* After dwelling upon the geological structure of the Cape Colony as developed 
by Mr.A. Bain, and the existence in very remote periods of lacustrine conditions 
in the central part of South Africa, as proved by fresh-water and terrestrial fossils, 
Sir Roderick Murchison thus writes : 

" Such as South Africa is now, such have been her main features during count- 
less past ages anterior to the creation of the human race ; for the old rocks which 
form her outer fringe unquestionably cii'pled round an interior marshy or lacustrine 
country, in which the Dicynodon flourished, at a time when not a single animal was 
similar to any living thing which now inhabits the surface of our globe. The pres- 
ent central and meridian zone of waters, whether lakes or marshes, extending from 
Lake Tchad to Lake 'Ngami, with hippopotami on their banks, are therefore but the 
great modern residual geographical phenomena of those of a mesozoic age. The 
differences, however, between the geological past of Africa and her present state are 
enormous. Since that primeval time, the lands have been much elevated above 
the sea-level — eruptive rocks piercing in parts through them ; deep rents and de- 
files have been suddenly formed in the subtending ridges through which some riv- 
ers escape outward. 

"Travelers will eventually ascertain whether the basin-shaped structure, which 
is here announced as having been the great feature of the most ancient, as it is of 
the actual geography of South Africa (i. e., from primeval times to the present day), 
does, or does not, extend into Northern Africa. Looking at that much broader 
portion of the continent, we have some reason to surmise that the higher mount- 
ains also form, in a general sense, its flanks only." — Presidents Address, Royal Ge- 
ographical Society, 1852, p. cxxiii. 



EEGION EAST OF LONDA. 513 

being on opposite sides of the equator. The waters of the Nile. 
are said to become turbid in June; and the flood attains its, 
greatest height in August, or the period when we may suppose, 
the supersaturation to occur. The subject is worthy the inves-. 
ligation of those who may examine the region between the 
equator and 10° S. ; for the Nile does not show much increase 
when the sun is at its farthest point north, or tropic of Cancer, 
but at the time of its returning to the equator, exactly as in 
the other case when he is on Capricorn, and the Zambesi is 
affected.* •a'l 

From information derived from Arabs of Zanzibar, whom, I met 
at Naliele in the middle of the country, the region to the east of 
the parts of Londa over which we have traveled resembles them 
in its conformation. They report swampy steppes, some of which 
have no trees, where the inhabitants use grass, and stalks of 
native corn, for fuel. A large shallow lake is also pointed out in 
that direction, named Tanganyenka, which requires three days 
for crossing in canoes. It is connected with another named 
Kalagwe (Garague?), farther north, and may be the Nyanjia qf 
the Maravim. From this lake is derived, by numerous small 
streams, the River Loapula, the eastern branch of the Zam- 
besi, which, coming from the N.E., flows past the town, of 
Cazembe. 

The southern end of this lake is ten days northeast of the town 
of Cazembe ; and as that is probably more than five days from 
Shinte, we can not have been nearer to it than 150 miles. Proba- 



* The above is from my own observation, together with information derived from 
the Portuguese in the interior of Angola ; and I may add that the result of many 
years' observation by Messrs. Gabriel and Brand at Loanda, on the west eoast, is in 
accordance therewith. It rains there between the 1st and 30th of N'&vember, but 
January and December are usually both warm and dry. The heavier rains com- 
mence about the 1st of February, and last until the I6th of May. Then no rain 
falls between the 20th of May and the 1st of November. The rain averages from 
12 to 15 inches per annum. In 1852 it was 12.034 inches ; in 1853, 15.473 inches. 
Although I had no means of measuring the amount of rain which fell in Londa, I 
feel certain that the annual quantity exceeds very much that which falls on the 
coast, because for a long time we noticed that every dawn was, marked by a delu- 
ging shower, which began without warning-drops or thunder. I obsei-ved that the 
rain ceased suddenly on the 28th of April, and the lesser rains commenced about a 
fortnight before the beginning of November. 

Kk 



514 CAUSES OP AEIDITY AND MOISTUEE. 

bly this lake is the watershed between the Zambesi and the Nile, 
as Lake Dilolo is that between the Leeba and Kasai. But, how- 
ever this may be, the phenomena of the rainy season show that 
it is not necessary to assume the existence of high snowy mount- 
ains until we get reliable information. This, it is to be hoped, 
will be one of the results of the researches of Captain Burton in 
his present journey. 

The original valley formation of the continent determined the 
northern and southern course of the Zambesi in the centre, and 
also of the ancient river which once flowed from the Linyanti 
basin to the Orange River. It also gave direction to the southern 
and northern flow of the Kasai and the Nile. We find that be- 
tween the latitudes, say 6° and 12° S., from which, in all proba- 
bility, the head waters of those rivers diverge, there is a sort of 
elevated partition in the great longitudinal valley. Presuming 
on the correctness of the native information, which places the 
humid region to which the Nile and Zambesi probably owe their 
origin within the latitudes indicated, why does so much more 
rain fall there than in the same latitudes north of the equator? 
Why does Darfur not give rise to great rivers, like Londa and 
the country east of it ? The prevailing winds in the ocean 
opposite the territory pointed out are said to be from the N.E. 
and S.E. during a great part of the year ; they extend their 
currents on one side at least of the equator quite beyond the 
middle of the continent, and even until in Angola they meet the 
sea-breeze from the Atlantic. If the reader remembers the 
explanation given at page 109,* that the comparative want of 

* Since the explanation in page 109 was printed, I have been pleased to see the 
same explanation given by the popular astronomer and natural philosopher, M. 
Babinet, in reference to the climate of Prance. It is quoted from a letter of a 
correspondent of the Times in Paris : 

" In the normal meteorological state of Prance and Europe, the west wind, 
which is the counter-current of the trade-winds that constantly blow from the east 
.under the tropics — the west wind, I say, after ha-ing touched Prance and Europe 
by the western shores, re-descends by Marseilles and the Mediterranean, Constanti- 
,nople and the Archipelago, Astrakan and the Caspian Sea, in order to merge again 
into the great circuit of the general winds, and be thus carried again into the equa- 
torial current. Whenever these masses of air, impregnated with humidity during 
their passage over the ocean, meet with an obstacle, such as a chain of mountains, 
for example, they slide up the acclivity, and, when they reach the crest, find them- 



CAUSES OF AKIDITY AND MOISTURE. 515 

rain on the Kalahari Desert is caused by the mass of air losing 
its hunaidity as it passes up and glides over the subtending 
ridge, and will turn to the map, he may perceive that the 
same cause is in operation in an intense degree by the moun- 
tains of Abyssinia to render the region about Darfur still 
more arid, and that the flanking ranges mentioned lie much 
nearer the equator than those which rob the Kalahari of hu- 
midity. The Nile, even while running through a part of that 
region, receives remarkably few branches. Observing also that 
there is no known abrupt lateral mountain-range between 6° 
and 12° S., but that there is an elevated partition there, and 
that the southing and northing of the southeasters and north- 
easters probably cause a confluence of the two great atmospheric 
currents, he will perceive an accumulation of humidity on the 
flanks and crown of the partition, instead of, as elsewhere, 
opposite the Kalahari and Darfur, a deposition of the atmos- 
pheric moisture on the eastern slopes of the subtending ridges. 
This explanation is offered with all deference to those who have 
made meteorology their special study, and as a hint to travelers 
who may have opportunity to examine the subject more fully. 

selves relieved from a portion of the column of air which pressed upon them. Thus, 
dilating by reason of their elasticity, they cause a considerable degree of cold, and 
a precipitation of humidity in the form of fogs, clouds, rain, or snow. A similar 
effect occurs whatever be the obstacle they find in their way. Now this is what had 
gradually taken place before 1856. By some cause or other connected with the 
currents of the atmosphere, the warm current from the west had annually ascended 
northward, so that, instead of passing through France, it came from the Baltic and 
the north of Germany, thus momentarily disturbing the ordinary law of the tempera- 
tures of Europe. But in 1856 a sudden change occurred. The western cuiTent 
again passed, as before, through the centre of France. It met with an obstacle in 
the air which had not yet found its usual outlet toward the west and south. Hencg 
a stoppage, a rising, a consequent dilation and fall of temperature, extraordinary 
rains and inundations. But, now that the natural state of things is restored, nothing 
appears to prognosticate the return of similar disasters. Were the western current 
found annually to move further north, we might again experience meteorological 
effects similar to those of 18BQ. II°nce the regular seasons may be considered 
re-established in France for several ;^ears to come. The important meteorological 
communications which the Imperial Observatory is daily establishing with the other 
countries of Europe, and the introduction of apparatus for measuring the velocity 
of the aerial currents and prevailing winds, will soon afford prognostics sufficiently 
certain to enable an enlightened government to provide in time against future 
evils." 



516 LAKE DILOLO. 

I often observed, while on a portion of the partition, that the air 
by night was generally quite still, but as soon as the sun's rays 
began to shoot across the upper strata of the atmosphere in the 
early morning, a copious discharge came suddenly down from the 
accumulated clouds. It always reminded me of the experiment 
of putting a rod into a saturated solution of a certain salt, causing 
instant crystallization. This, too, was the period when I often ob- 
served the greatest amount of cold. 

After crossing the Northern Lotembwa we met a party of the 
people of Kangenke, who had treated us kindly on our way to the 
north, and sent him a robe of striped calico, with an explanation 
of the reason for not returning through his village. "We then went 
on to the Lake Dilolo. It is a fine sheet of water, six or eight 
miles long, and one or two broad, and somewhat of a triangular 
shape. A branch proceeds from one of the angles, and flows into 
the Southern Lotembwa. Though laboring under fever, the sight 
of the blue waters, and the waves lashing the shore, had a most 
soothing influence on the mind, after so much of lifeless, flat, and 
gloomy forest. The heart yearned for the vivid impressions which 
are always created by the sight of the broad expanse of the grand 
old ocean. That has life in it; but the flat uniformities over 
which we had roamed made me feel as if buried alive. We found 
Moene Dilolo (Lord of the Lake) a fat, jolly fellow, who lamented 
that when they had no strangers they had plenty of beer, and al- 
ways none when they came. He gave us a handsome present of 
meal and putrid buflalo's flesh. Meat can not be too far gone for 
them, as it is used only in small quantities, as a sauce to their 
tasteless manioc. They were at this time hunting antelopes, in 
order to send the skins as a tribute to Matiamvo. Great quanti- 
ties of fish are caught in the lake ; and numbers of young water- 
fowl are now found in the nests amoiig the reeds. 

Our progress had always been slow, and I found that our rate 
of traveling could only be five hours a day for five successive days. 
On the sixth, both men and oxen showed symptoms of knocking 
up. We never exceeded two and a half or three miles an hour in 
a straight line, though all were anxious to get home. The differ- 
ence in the rate of traveling between ourselves and the slave- 
traders was our having a rather quicker step, a longer day's jour- 
ney, and twenty traveling days a month instead of their ten. 



KATEMA'S HOSPITALITY AND DIGNITY. 51 7 

When one of my men became ill, Ibut still could walk, others part- 
ed his luggage among them ; yet we had often to stop one day a 
week, besides Sundays, simply for the sake of rest. The latitude 
of Lake Dilolo is 11° 32^ 1^^ S., long. 22° 2V E. 

June 14th. We reached the collection of straggling villages 
over which Katema rules, and were thankful to see old familiar 
faces again. Shakatwala performed the part of a chief by bring- 
ing forth abundant supplies of food in his master's name. He in- 
formed us that Katema, too, was out hunting skins for Matiamvo. 

In different parts of this country, we remarked that when old 
friends were inquired for, the reply was, "Ba hola" (They are get- 
ting better) ; or if the people of a village were inquired for, the 
answer was, " They are recovering," as if sickness was quite a com- 
mon thing. Indeed, many with whom we had made acquaintance 
in going north we now found were in their graves. On the 15th 
Katema came home from his hunting, having heard of our arrival. 
He desired me to rest myself and eat abundantly, for, being a 
great man, I must feel tired ; and he took good care to give the 
means of doing so. All the people in these parts are exceedingly 
kind and liberal with their food, and Katema was not behindhand. 
When he visited our encampment, I presented him with a cloak of 
red baize, ornamented with gold tinsel, which cost thirty shillings, 
according to the promise I had made in going to Londa; also a 
cotton robe, both large and small beads, an iron spoon, and a tin 
pannikin containing a quarter of a pound of powder. He seemed 
greatly pleased with the liberality shown, and assured me that 
the way was mine, and that no one should molest me in it if he 
could help it. We were informed by Shakatwala that the chief 
never used any part of a present before making an offer of it to 
his mother, or the departed spirit to whom he prayed. Katema 
asked if I could not make a dress for him like the one I wore, so 
that he might appear as a white man when any stranger visited 
him. One of the councilors, imagining that he ought to second 
this by begging, Katema checked him by saying, "Whatever 
strangers give, be it little or much, I always receive it with thank- 
fulness, and never trouble them for more." On departing, he 
mounted on the shoulders of his spokesman, as the most dignified 
mode of retiring. The spokesman being a slender man, and the 
chief six feet high, and stout in proportion, there would have been 



518 



KATEMA'S HEED.— JACKDAWS. 



a break-down had he not "been accustomed to it. "We were very 
much pleased with Katema ; and next day he presented us with 
a cow, that we might enjoy the abundant supplies of meal he had 
given with good animal food. He then departed for the hunting- 
ground, after assuring me that the town and every thing in it were 
mine, and that his factotum, Shakatwala, would remain and attend 
to every want, and also conduct us to the Leeba. 







On attempting to slaughter the cow Katema had given, we 
found the herd as wild as buffaloes ; and one of my men having 
only wounded it, they fled many miles into the forest, and were 
with great difficulty brought back. Even the herdsman was afraid 
to go near them. The majority of them were white, and they 
were all beautiful animals. After hunting it for two days it was 
dispatched at last by another ball. Here we saw a flock of jack- 
daws, a rare sight in Londa, busy with the grubs in the valley, 
which are eaten by the people too. 



PEOJECT FOR A MAKOLOLO VILLAGE. 519 

Leaving Katema's town on tlie 19th, and proceeding four miles 
to the eastward, we forded the southern branch of Lake Dilolo. 
We found it a mile and a quarter broad ; and, as it flows into the 
Lotembwa, the lake would seem to be a drain of the surrounding 
flats, and to partake of the character of a fountain. The ford was 
waist-deep, and very difficult, from the masses of arum and rushes 
through which we waded. Going to the eastward about three 
miles, we came to the Southern Lotembwa itself, running in a 
valley two miles broad. It is here eighty or ninety yards wide, 
and contains numerous islands covered with dense sylvan vegeta- 
tion. In the rainy season the valley is flooded, and as the waters 
dry up great multitudes of fish are caught. This happens very 
extensively over the country, and fishing-weirs are met with every 
where. A species of small fish, about the size of the minnow, is 
caught in bagfuls and dried in the sun. The taste is a pungent 
aromatic bitter, and it was partaken of freely by my people, al- 
though they had never met with it before. On many of the paths 
which had been flooded a nasty sort of slime of decayed vegetable 
matter is left behind, and much sickness prevails during the dry- 
ing up of the water. We did not find our friend Mozinkwa at 
his pleasant home on the Lokaloeje ; his wife was dead, and he 
had removed elsewhere. He followed us some distance, but our 
reappearance seemed to stir up his sorrows. We found the pon- 
toon at the village in which we left it. It had been carefully pre- 
served, but a mouse had eaten a hole in it and rendered it useless. 

We traversed the extended plain on the north bank of the 
Leeba, .and crossed this river a little farther on at Kanyonke's 
village, which is about twenty miles west of the Peri hills, our 
former ford. The first stage beyond the Leeba was at the rivulet 
Loamba, by the village of Chebende, nephew of Shinte ; and next 
day we met Chebende himself returning from the funeral of 
Samoana, his father. He was thin and haggard-looking compared 
to what he had been before, the probable efffect of the orgies in 
which he had been engaged. Pitsane and Mohorisi, having con- 
cocted the project of a Makololo village on the banks of the Leeba, 
as an approach to the white man's market, spoke to Chebende, 
as an influential man, on the subject, but he cautiously avoided 
expressing an opinion. The idea which had sprung up in their 
own minds of an establishment somewhere near the confluence of 



520 WELCOME FEOM SHINTE. 

the Leelba and Leeamlbje, commended itself to my judgment at 
the time as a geographically suitable point for civilization and 
eommerce. The right bank of the Leeba there is never flooded ; 
and from that point there is communication by means of canoes 
to the countxy of the Kanyika, and also to Cazembe and beyond, 
with but one or two large waterfalls between. There is no ob^ 
struction down to the Barotse valley ; and there is probably canoe 
navigation down the Kafue or Bashukulorapo River, though it is 
reported to contain many cataracts. It flows through a fertile 
country, well peopled with Bamasasa, who cultivate the native 
produce largely. 

As this was the middle of winter, it may be mentioned that the 
temperature of the water in the morning was 47°, and that of the 
air 50°, which, being loaded with moisture, was very cold to the 
feelings. Yet the sun was very hot by day, and the temperature in 
the coolest shade from 88° to 90° ; in the evenings from 76° to 78°, 

Before reaching the town of Shinte we passed through many 
large villages of the Balobale, who have fled from the chief Kan- 
genke. The Mambari from Bihe come constantly to him for 
trade ; and, as he sells his people, great numbers of them escape 
to Shinte and Katenia, who refuse to give them up. 

We reached our friend Shinte, and received a hearty welcome 
from this friendly old man, and abundant provisions of the best 
he had. On hearing the report of the journey given by my 
companions, and receiving a piece of cotton cloth about two yards 
square, he said, " These Mambari cheat us by bringing little pieces 
only ; but the next time you pass I shall send men with you to 
trade for me in Loanda." When I explained the use made of the 
slaves he sold, and that he was just destroying his own tribe by 
selling his people, and enlarging that of the Mambari for the sake 
of these small pieces of cloth, it seemed to him quite a new idea. 
He entered into a long detail of his troubles with Masiko, who 
had prevented him from cultivating that friendship with the Ma- 
kololo which I had inculcated, and had even plundered the mes- 
sengers he had sent with Kolimbota to the Barotse valley. Shinte 
was particularly anxious to explain that Kolimbota had remained 
after my departure of his own accord, and that he had engaged 
in the quarrels of the country without being invited ; that, in 
attempting to capture one of the children of a Balobale man, 



PLANTS AND TEEES FEOM ANGOLA. 521 

wLlo had offended the Balonda by taking honey from a hive which 
did not belong to him, Kolimbota had got wounded by a shot 
in the thigh, but that he had cured the wound, given him a wife, 
and sent a present of cloth to Sekeletu, with a full account of 
the whole affair. From the statement of Shinte we found that 
Kolimbota had learned, before we left his town, that the way we 
intended to take was so dangerous that it would be better for him 
to leave us to our fate ; and, as he had taken one of our canoes 
with him, it seemed evident that he did not expect us to return. 
Shinte, however, sent a recommendation to his sister Nyamoana 
to furnish as many canoes as we should need for our descent of 
the Leeba and Leeambye. 

As I had been desirous of introducing some of the fruit-trees 
of Angola, both for my own sake and that of the inhabitants, we 
had carried a pot containing a little plantation of orange, cashew- 
trees, custard-apple-trees {anona), and a fig-tree, with coffee, ara9as 
{Araga pomifera), scn^ ^ix^diw^ {Cay'ica papaya). Fearing that, 
if we took them farther south at present, they might be killed by 
the cold, we planted them out in an inclosure of one of Shinte's 
principal men, and, at his request, promised to give Shinte a share 
when grown. They know the value of fruits, but at present have 
none except wild ones. A wild frujt we frequently met with in 
Londa is eatable, and, when boiled, yields a large quantity of 
oil, which is much used in anointing both head and body. He 
eagerly accepted some of the seeds of the palm-oil-tree [Elceis 
Guineensis), when told that this would produce oil in much great- 
er quantity than their native tree, which is not a palm. There 
are very few palm-trees in this country, but near Bango we saw a 
few of a peculiar palm, the ends of the leaf-stalks of which remain 
attached to the trunk, giving it a triangular shape. 

It is pleasant to observe that all the tribes in Central Africa 
are fond of agriculture. My men had collected quantities of 
seeds in Angola, and now distributed them among their friends. 
Some even carried onions, garlic, and bird's-eye pepper, growing 
in pannikins. The courts of the Balonda, planted with tobacco, 
sugar-cane, and plants used as relishes, led me to the belief that 
care would be taken of my little nursery. 

The thermometer early in the mornings ranged from 42° to 
52°, at noon 94° to 96°, and in the evening about 70°. It was 



522 MASIKO AND LIMBOA'S QUARREL. 

placed in tlie shade of my tent, which was pitched under the 
thickest tree we could find. The sensation of cold, after the heat 
of the day, was very keen. The Balonda at this season never 
leave their fires till nine or ten in the morning. As the cold was 
so great here, it was probably frosty at Linyanti ; I tlierefore fear- 
ed to expose my young trees tliere. The latitude of Shinte's town 
is 12° 37' 35'' S., longitude 22° 47' E. 

We remained with Shi nte till the 6th of July, he being unwill- 
ing to allow us to depart before hearing in a formal manner, in 
the presence of his greatest councilor Chebende, a message from 
Limboa, tlie brother of Masiko. When Masiko fled from the 
Makololo country in consequence of a dislike of being in a state 
of subjection to Sebituane, he came into the territory of Shinte, 
who received him kindly, and sent orders to all the villages in his 
vicinity to supply him with food. Limboa fled in a westerly 
direction with a number of people, and also became a chief. His 
country was sometimes called Nyenko, but by the Mambari and 
native Portuguese traders "Mboela". — the place where they 
"turned again," or back. As one of the fruits of polygamy, the 
children of different mothers are always in a state of variance. 
Each son endeavors to gain the ascendency by enticing away 
the followers of the others. The mother of Limboa being of a 
liigh family, he felt aggrieved because the situation chosen by 
Masiko was better than his. Masiko lived at a convenient dis- 
tance from the Saloisho hills, where there is abundance of iron 
ore, with which the inhabitants manufacture hoes, knives, etc. 
They are also skillful in making wooden vessels. Limboa felt 
annoyed because he was obliged to apply for these articles through 
his brother, whom he regarded as his inferior, and accordingly 
resolved to come into the same district. As this was looked upon 
as an assertion of superiority which Masiko would resist, it was 
virtually a declaration of war. Both Masiko and Shinte pleaded 
my injunction to live in peace and friendship, but Limboa, con- 
fident of success, now sent the message which I was about to 
hear — " That he, too, highly approved of the ' word' I had given, 
but would only for once transgress a little, and live at peace for 
ever afterward." He now desired the aid of Shinte to subdue 
his brother.^ Messengers came from Masiko at the same time, 
desiring assistance to repel him. Shinte felt inclined to aid 



THE LEEBA. 523 

LlmLoa, but, as he had advised them both to wait till I came, I 
now urged him to let the quarrel alone, and he took my advice. 

We parted on the best possible terms with our friend Shinte, 
and proceeded by our former path to the village of his sister 
Nyamoana, who is now a widow. She received us with much 
apparent feeling, and said, "We had removed from our former 
abode to the place where you found us, and had no idea then that 
it was the spot where my husband was to die." She had come 
to the River Lofuje, as they never remain in a place where death 
has once visited them. We received the loan of five small canoes 
from her, and also one of those we had left here before, to proceed 
down the Leeba. After viewing -the Coanza at Massangano, I 
thought the Leeba at least a third larger, and upward of two 
hundred yards wide. We saw evidence of its rise during its 
last flood having been upward of forty feet in perpendicular 
height ; but this is probably more than usual, as the amount of 
rain was above the average. My companions purchased also a 
number of canoes from the Balonda. These are very small, and 
can carry only two persons. They are njade quite thin and light, 
and as sharp as racing-skiffs, because they are used in hunting 
animals in the water. The price paid was a string of beads equal 
to the length of the canoe. We advised them to bring canoes for 
sale to the Makololo, as they would gladly give them cows in 
exchange. 

In descending the Leeba we saw many herds of Avild animals, 
especially the tahetsi (Aigoceros equina), one magnificent ante- 
lope, the putokuane {Antilojpe 7iiger), and two fine lions. The 
Balobale, however, are getting well supplied with guns, and will 
soon thin out the large game. At one of the villages we were 
entreated to attack some buifaloes which grazed in the gardens 
every night and destroyed the manioc. As we had had no 
success in shooting at the game we had seen, and we all longed 
to have a meal of meat, we followed the footprints of a number 
of old bulls. They showed a great amount of cunning by select- 
ing the densest parts of very closely-planted forests to stand or re- 
cline in during the day. We came within six yards of them sev- 
eral times before we knew that they were so near. We only heard 
them rush away among the crashing branches, catching only a 
glimpse of them. It was somewhat exciting to feel, as we trod 



524 FKOGS AND TOADS. 

on the dry leaves with stealthy steps, that, for any thing we knew, 
we might next moment be charged hy one of the most dangerous 
beasts of the forest. We threaded out their doublings for hours, 
drawn on by a keen craving for animal food, as we had been en- 
tirely without salt for upward of two months, but never could get 
a shot. 

In passing along the side of the water every where except in 
Londa, green frogs spring out at your feet, and light in the water 
as if taking a " header ;" and on the Leeambye and Chobe we 
have great numbers of small green frogs {Rana fasciata, Boie), 
which light on blades of grass with remarkable precision ; but on 
coming along the Leeba I was struck by the sight of a light green 
toad about an inch long. The leaf might be nearly perpendicu- 
lar, but it stuck to it like a fly. It was of the same size as the 
Brachymerus U-fasciatus (Smith),* which I saw only once in the 
Bakwain country. Though small, it was hideous, being colored 
jet black, with vermilion spots. 

Before reaching the Makondo rivulet, latitude 13° 23' 12'' S., 
we came upon the tsetse in such numbers that many bites were 
inflicted on my poor ox, in spite of a man with a branch ward- 
ing them off. The bite of this insect does not afiect the don- 
key as it does cattle. The next morning, the spots on which 

* The discovery of this last species is thus mentioned by that accomplished 
naturalist, Dr. Smith : "On the banks of the Limpopo Eiver, close to the tropic of 
Capricorn, a massive tree was cut down to obtain wood to repair a wagon. The 
workman, while sawing the trunk longitudinally nearly along its centre, remarked, 
on reaching a certain point, ' It is hollow, and will not answer the purpose for which 
it is wanted.' He persevered, however, and when a division into equal halves was 
effected, it was discovered that the saw in its course had crossed a large hole, in 
which were five specimens of the species just described, each about an inch in 
length. Every exertion was made to discover a means of communication between 
the external air and the cavity, but without success. Every part of the latter was 
probed with the utmost care, and water was kept in each half for a considerable 
time, without any passing into the wood. The inner surface of the cavity was 
black, as if charred, and so was likewise the adjoining wood for half an inch from 
the cavity. The tree, at the part where the latter existed, was 19 inches in di- 
ameter; the length of the trunk was 18 feet. When the Batrachia above men- 
tioned were discovered, they appeared inanimate, but the influence of a warm sun 
to which they were subjected soon imparted to them a moderate degree of vigor. 
In a few hours from the time they were liberated they were tolerably active, and 
able to move from place to place apparently with great ease." 



THE "IvASENDL" 525 

my ox had been bitten were marked by patches of hair about 
half an inch broad being wetted by exudation. Poor Sinbad 
had carried me all the way from the Leeba to Golungo Alto, 
and all the way back again, without losing any of his peculi- 
arities, or ever becoming reconciled to our perversity in forcing 
him away each morning from the pleasant pasturage on which 
he had fed. I wished to give the climax to his usefulness, and 
allay our craving for animal food at the same time ; but my men 
having some compunction, we carried him to end his days in peace 
at JSTaliele. 

Having dispatched a message to our old friend Manenko, we 
waited a day opposite her village, which was about fifteen miles 
from the river. Her husband was instantly dispatched to meet 
us with liberal presents of food, she being unable to travel in con- 
sequence of a burn on the foot. Sambanza gave us a detailed ac- 
count of the political affairs of the country, and of Kolimbota's 
evil doings, and next morning performed the ceremony called 
'■^ICasendi,'''' for cementing our friendship. It is accomplished 
thus : The hands of the parties are joined (in this case Pitsane and 
Sambanza were the parties engaged) ; small incisions are made on 
the clasped hands, on the pits of the stomach of each, and on the 
right cheeks and foreheads. A small quantity of blood is taken 
off from these points in both parties by means of a stalk of grass. 
The blood from one person is put into a pot of beer, and that of 
the second into another ; each then drinks the other's blood, and 
they are supposed to become perpetual friends or relations. Dur- 
ing the drinking of the beer, some of the party continue beating 
the ground with short clubs, and utter sentences by way of rati- 
fying the treaty. The men belonging to each then finish the 
beer. The principals in the performance of '■'■Kasendi''' are hence- 
forth considered blood-relations, and are bound to disclose to each 
other any impending evil. If Sekeletu should resolve to attack 
the Balonda, Pitsane would be under obligation to give Sambanza 
warning to escape, and so on the other side. They now present- 
ed each other with the most valuable presents they had to bestow. 
Sambanza walked off with Pitsane's suit of green baize faced with 
red, which had been made in Loanda, and Pitsane, besides abund- 
ant supplies of food, obtained two shells similar to that I had re- 
ceived from Shinte. 



526 SOCIAL CONDITION OF TRIBES. 

On one occasion I became blood-relation to a young woman by 
accident. She had a large cartilaginous tumor between the bones 
of the fore-arm, which, as it gradually enlarged, so distended the 
muscles as to render her unable to work. She applied to me to 
excise it. I requested her to bring her husband, if he were will- 
ing to have the operation performed, and, while removing the tumor, 
one of the small arteries squirted some blood into my eye. She 
remarked, when I was wiping the blood out of it, "You were a 
friend before, now you are a blood-relation ; and when you pass 
this way, always send me word, that I may cook food for you." 
In creating these friendships, my men had the full intention of re- 
turning ; each one had his Molekane {friend) in every village of 
the friendly Balonda. Mohorisi even married a wife in the town 
of Katema, and Pitsane took another in the town of Shinte. 
These alliances were looked upon with great favor by the Balonda 
chiefs, as securing the good-will of the Makololo. 

In order that the social condition of the tribes may be under- 
stood by the reader, I shall mention that, while waiting for Sam- 
banza, a party of Barotse came from Nyenko, the former residence 
of Limboa, who had lately crossed the Leeba on his way toward 
Masiko. The head man of this party had brought Limboa's son 
to his father, because the Barotse at Nyenko had, since the de- 
parture of Limboa, elected Nananko, another son of Santuru, in 
his stead ; and our visitor, to whom the boy had been intrusted 
as a guardian, thinking him to be in danger, fled with liim to his 
father. Tlie Barotse, whom Limboa had left behind at Nyenko, 
on proceeding to elect Nananko, said, "No, it is quite too much 
for Limboa to rule over two places." I would have gone to visit 
Limboa and Masiko too, in order to prevent hostilities, but the 
state of my ox would not allow it. I therefore sent a message 
to Limboa by some of his men, protesting against war with his 
brother, and giving him formal notice that the path up the 
Leeba had been given to us by the Balonda, the owners of the 
country, and that no attempt must ever be made to obstruct free 
intercourse. , 

On leaving this place we were deserted by one of our party, 
Mboenga, an Ambonda man, who had accompanied us all the way 
to Loanda and back. His father was living with Masiko, and it 
was natural for him to wish to join his own family again. He 



WATER-TUETLES. 527 

went off honestly, with the exception of taking a fine " tari" skin 
given me Iby Nyamoana, but he left a parcel of gun-flints which he 
liad carried for me all the way from Loanda. I regretted parting 
with him thus, and sent notice to him that he need not have run 
away, and if he wished to come to Sekeletu again he would be 
welcome. We subsequently met a large party of Barotse fleeing 
in the same direction ; but when I represented to them that there 
was a probability of their being sold as slaves in Londa, and none 
in the country of Sekeletu, they concluded to return. The griev- 
ance which the Barotse most feel is being obliged to live with Se- 
keletu at Linyanti, where there is neither fish nor fowl, nor any 
other kind of food, equal in quantity to what they enjoy in their 
own fat valley. 

A short distance below the confluence of the Leeba and Lee- 
ambye we met a number of hunters belonging to the tribe called 
Mamb we, who live under Masiko. They had dried flesh of 
hippopotami, buffaloes, and alligators. They stalk the animals 
by using the stratagem of a cap made of the skin of a leche's or 
poku's head, having the horns still attached, and another made 
so as to represent the upper white part of the crane called jabiru 
{Mycteru Senegalensis), with its long neck and beak above. With 
these on, they crawl through the grass ; they can easily put up 
tlieir heads so far as to see their prey without being recognized 
until they are within bow-shot. They presented me with three 
fine water-turtles,* one of which, when cooked, had upward of 
forty eggs in its body. The shell of the egg is flexible, and it is 
of the same size at both ends, like those of the alligator. The 
flesh, and especially the liver, is excellent. The hunters informed 
us that, when the message inculcating peace among the tribes 
came to Masiko, the common people were so glad at the prospect 
of " binding up the spears," that they ran to the river, and 
bathed and plunged in it for joy. This party had been sent by 
Masiko to the Makololo for aid to repel their enemy, but, afraid to 
go thither, had spent the time in hunting. They have a dread of 
the Makololo, and hence the joy they expressed when peace was 

* It is probably a species allied to the Stemotherus sinuatus of Dr. Smith, as it 
has no disagreeable smell. This variety annually leaves the water with so much 
regularity for the deposit of its eggs, that the natives decide on the time of sowing 
their seed by its appearance. 



'528 CHAKGE OF A BUFFALO. 

proclaimed. The Mamlbowe hunters were much alarmed until my 
name was mentioned. Thej then joined our party, and on the 
following day discovered a hippopotamus dead, which they had 
previously wounded. This was the first feast of flesh my men 
had enjoyed, for, though the game was wonderfully abundant, I 
had quite got out of the way of shooting, and missed perpetually. 
Once I went with the determination of getting so close that I should 
not miss a zehra. We went along one of the branches that stretch 
out from the river in a small canoe, and two men, stooping down 
as low as they could, paddled it slowly along to an open space 
near to a herd of zebras and pokus. Peering over the edge of the 
canoe, the open space seemed like a patch of wet ground, such as 
is often seen on the banks of a river, made smooth as the resting- 
place of alligators. When we came within a few yards of it, we 
found by the precipitate plunging of the reptile that this was a 
large alligator itself. Although I had been most careful to approach 
near enough, I unfortunately only broke the hind leg of a zebra. 
My two men pursued it, but the loss of a hind leg does not prevent 
this animal from a gallop. As I walked slowly after the men on 
an extensive plain covered with a great crop of grass, which was 
laid by its own weight, I observed that a solitary buffalo, disturbed 
by others of my own party, was coming to me at a gallop. I 
glanced around, but the only tree on the plain was a hundred 
yards off, and there was no escape elsewhere. I therefore cocked 
my rifle, with the intention of giving him a steady shot in the 
forehead when he should come within three or four yards of me. 
The thought flashed across my mind, " What if your gun misses 
fire?" I placed it to my shoulder as he came on at full speed, 
and that is tremendous, though generally he is a lumbering-looking 
animal in his paces. A small bush and bunch of grass fifteen 
yards off made him swerve a little, and exposed his shoulder. 
I just heard the ball crack there as I fell flat on my face. The 
pain must have made him renounce his purpose, for he bounded 
close past me on to the water, where he was found dead. In 
expressing my thankfulness to God among my men, they were 
much offended with themselves for not being present to shield me 
from this danger. The tree near me was a camel-thorn, and re- 
minded me that we had come back to the land of thorns again, for 
the country we had left is one of evergreens. 



EECEPTION AT LIBONTA. 529 

July 21th. We reached the town of Libonta, and were re- 
ceived with demonstrations of joj such as I had never witnessed 
before. The women came fortli to meet us, making their curious 
dancing gestures and loud lulliloos. Some carried a mat and 
stick, in imitation of a spear and shield. Others rushed forward 
and kissed the hands and clieeks of the different persons of their 
acquaintance among us, raising such a dust that it was quite a 
relief to get to the men assembled and sitting with proper African 
decorum in the kotla. We were looked upon as men risen from 
the dead, for the most skillful of their diviners had pronounced 
us to have perished long ago. After many expressions of joy at 
meeting, I arose, and, thanking them, explained the causes of our 
long delay, but left the report to be made by their own country- 
men. Formerly I had been the chief speaker, now I would leave 
the task of speaking to them. Pitsane then delivered a speech 
of upward of an hour in length, giving a highly flattering 
picture of the whole journey, of the kindness of the white men 
in general, and of Mr. Gabriel in particular. He concluded by 
saying that I had done more for them than they expected ; that 
I had not only opened up a path for them to the other white 
men, but conciliated all the chiefs along the route. The oldest 
man present rose and answered this speech, and, among other 
things, alluded to the disgust I felt at the Makololo for engaging 
in marauding expeditions against Lechulatebe and Sebolamak- 
waia, of which we had heard from the first persons we met, 
and which my companions most energetically denounced as 
" mashue hela," entirely bad. He entreated me not to lose 
heart, but to reprove Sekeletu as my child. Another old man 
followed with the same entreaties. The following day we ob- 
served as our thanksgiving to God for his goodness in bringing 
us all back in safety to our friends. My men decked themselves 
out in their best, and I found that, although their goods were 
finished, they had managed to save suits of European clothing, 
which, being white, with their red caps, gave them rather a 
dashing appearance. They tried to walk like the soldiers they 
had seen in Loanda, and called themselves ray "braves" (batla- 
bani). During the service they all sat with their guns over theii 
shoulders, and excited the unbounded admiration of the women 
and children. I addressed them all on the goodness of God in 

L L 



530 KINDNESS OF THE PEOPLE. 

preserving us from all the dangers of strange tribes and disease. 
We had a similar service in the afternoon. The men gave us two 
fine oxen for slaughter, and the women supplied us abundantly 
with milk, meal, and butter. It was all quite gratuitous, and I 
felt ashamed that I could make no return. My men explained 
the total expenditure of our means, and the Libontese answered 
gracefully, "It does not matter; you have opened a path for us, 
and we shall have sleep." Strangers came flocking from a dis- 
tance, and seldom empty-handed. Their presents I distributed 
among my men. 

Our progress down the Barotse valley was just like this. Ev- 
ery village gave us an ox, and sometimes two. The people were 
wonderfully kind. I felt, and still feel, most deeply grateful, and 
tried to benefit them in the only way I could, by imparting the 
knowledge of that Savior who can comfort and supply them in the 
time of need, and my prayer is that he may send his good Spirit 
to instruct them and lead them into his kingdom. Even now I 
earnestly long to return, and make some recompense to them for 
their kindness. In passing them on our way to the north, their 
liberality might have been supposed to be influenced by the hope 
of repayment on our return, for the white man's land is imagined 
to be the source of every ornament they prize most. But, though 
we set out from Loanda with a considerable quantity of goods, 
hoping both to pay our way through the stingy Chiboque, and to 
make presents to the kind Balonda and still more generous Mako- 
lolo, the many delays caused by sickness made us expend all my 
stock, and all the goods my men procured by their own labor at 
Loanda, and we returned to the Makololo as poor as when we set 
out. Yet no distrust was shown, and my poverty did not lessen 
my influence. They saw that I had been exerting myself for their 
benefit alone, and even my men remarked, " Though we return as 
poor as we went, we have not gone in vain." They began imme- 
diately to collect tusks of hippopotami and other ivory for a sec- 
ond journey. 



COLONY OF BIRDS. 53I 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Colony of Birds called Linkololo. — The Village of Chitlane. — Murder of Mpololo's 
Daughter. — Execution of the Murderer and his Wife. — My Companions find that 
their Wives have married other Husbands. — Sunday. — A Party from Masiko. — 
Freedom of Speech. — Canoe struck by a Hippopotamus. — Gonye. — Appearance 
of Trees at the end of Winter. — Murky Atmosphere. — Surprising Amount of 
organic Life. — Hornets. — The Packages forwarded by Mr. Moffat. — Makololo 
Suspicions and Reply to the Matebele who brought them. — Convey the Goods to 
an Island and build a Hut over them. — Ascertain that Sir R. Murchison had rec- 
ognized the true Form of African Continent. — Arrival at Linyanti. — A grand 
Picho. — Shrewd Inquiry. — Sekeletu in his Uniform. — A Trading-party sent to 
Loanda with Ivory. — Mr. Gabriel's Kindness to them. — Difficulties in Trading. — 
Two Makololo Forays during our Absence. — ^Report of the Country to the N.E. 
— Death of influential Men. — The Makololo desire to be nearer the Market. — 
Opinions upon a Change of Residence. — Climate of Barotse Valley. — Diseases. 
— Author's Fevers not a fair Criterion in the Matter. — Thfe Interior an inviting 
Field for the Philanthropist. — Consultations about a Path to the East Coast. — 
Decide on descending North Bank of Zambesi. — Wait for the Rainy Season. — 
Native way of spending Time during the period of greatest Heat. — Favorable 
Opening for Missionary Enterprise. — Ben Habib wishes to marry. — A Maiden's 
Choice. — Sekeletu's Hospitality. — Sulphureted Hydrogen and Malaria.-^-Con- 
versations with Makololo. — Their moral Character and Conduct. — Sekeletu wish- 
es to purchase a Sugar-mill, etc. — The Donkeys. — Influence among the Natives. 
— " Food fit for a Chief." — Parting Words of Mamire. — Motibe's Excuses. 

On the 31st of July we parted with our kind Libonta friends. 
We planted some of our palm-tree seeds in different villages of 
this valley. They began to sprout even while we were there, but, 
unfortunately, they were always destroyed by the mice which 
swarm in every hut. 

At Chitlane's village we collected the young -of a colony of 
the linkololo {Anastomus lamalligerus), a black, long-legged bird, 
somewhat larger than a crow, which lives on shellfish (^m^t^ZZaWa), 
and breeds in society at certain localities among the reeds. These 
places are well known, as they continue there from year to year, and 
belong to the chiefs, who at particular times of the year gather most 
of the young. The produce of this " harvest," as they call it, which 



532 CHITLANE'S VILLAGE. 

was presented to me, was a hundred and seventy-five unfledged 
birds. They had been rather late in collecting them, in conse- 
quence of waiting for the arrival of Mpololo, who acts the part of 
chief, but gave them to me, knowing that this would be pleasing 
,:^to him, otherwise this colony would have yielded double the 
amount. The old ones appear along the Leeambye in vast flocks, 
and look lean and scraggy. The young are very fat, and, when 
roasted, are esteemed one of the dainties of the Barotse valley. In 
presents of this kind, as well as of oxen, it is a sort of feast of joy, 
the person to whom they are presented having the honor of dis- 
tributing the materials of the feast. We generally slaughtered 
every ox at the village where it was presented, and then our friends 
and we rejoiced together. 

The village of Chitlane is situated, like all others in the Barotse 
valley, on an eminence, over which floods do not rise ; but this 
last year the water approached nearer to an entire submergence 
of the whole valley than has been known in the memory of man. 
Great numbers of people were now suffering from sickness, which 
always prevails when the waters are drying up, and I found 
much demand for the medicines I had brought from Loanda. The 
great variation of the temperature each day must have a trying 
effect upon the health. At this village there is a real Indian 
banian-tree, which has spread itself over a considerable space by 
means of roots from its branches ; it has been termed, in conse- 
quence, " the tree with legs" (more oa maotu). It is curious that 
trees of this family are looked upon with veneration, and all the 
way from the Barotse to Loanda are thought to be preservatives 
from evil. 

On reaching Naliele on the 1st of August we found Mpololo 
in great affliction on account of the death of his daughter and 
her child. She had been lately confined ; and her father natu- 
rally remembered her when an ox was slaughtered, or when the 
tribute of other -food, which he receives in lieu of Sekeletu, came 
in his way, and sent frequent presents to her. This moved the 
envy of one of the Makololo who hated Mpololo, and, wishing to 
vex him, he entered the daughter's hut by night, and strangled 
both her and her child. He then tried to make fire in the hut 
and burn it, so that the murder might not be known ; but the 
squeaking noise of rubbing the sticks awakened a servant, and 



MESSAGE FROM MASIKO. 533 

the murderer was detected. Both he and his wife were thrown 
into the river; the latter having "known of her husband's in- 
tentions, and not revealing them." She declared she had dis- 
suaded him from the. crime, and, had any one interposed a word, 
she might have been spared. 

Mpololo exerted himself in every way to supply us with other 
canoes, and we left Shinte's with him. The Mamhowe were 
well received, and departed with friendly messages to their chief 
Masiko. My men were exceedingly delighted with the cordial 
reception we met with every where ; but a source of annoyance 
was found where it was not expected. Many of their wives had 
married other men during our two years' absence. Mashuana's 
wife, who had borne him two children, was among the number. 
He wished to appear not to feel it much, saying, " Why, wives 
are as plentiful as grass, and I can get another : she may go ;'' 
but he would add, " If I had that fellow, I would open his ears 
for him." As most of them had more wives than one, I tried to 
console them by saying that they had still more than I had, and 
that they had enough yet ; but they felt the reflection to be gall- 
ing, that while they were toiling, another had been devouring their 
corn. Some of their wives came with very young infants in their 
arms. This excited no discontent ; and for some I had to speak 
to the chief to order the men, who had married the only wives 
some of my companions ever had, to restore them. 

Sunday, August bth. A large audience listened most attentive- 
ly to my morning address. Surely some will remember the ideae 
conveyed, and pray to our merciful Father, who would never have 
thought of Him but for this visit. The invariably kind and re- 
spectful treatment I have received from these, and many other 
heathen tribes in this central country, together with the attentive 
observations of many years, have led me to the belief that, if one 
exerts himself for their good, he will never be ill treated. There 
may be opposition to his doctrine, but none to the man himself. 

While still at Naliele, a party which had been sent after me by 
Masiko arrived. He was much disappointed because I had not 
visited him. They brought an elephant's tusk, two calabashes of 
honey, two baskets of maize, and one of ground-nuts, as a present. 
Masiko wished to say that he had followed the injunction which 
I had given as the will of God, and lived in peace until his 



534 FREEDOM OF SPEECH. 

brother Limboa came, captured his women as they went to their 
gardens, and then appeared before his stockade. Masiko offered 
to lead his men out ; but thej objected, sajing, " Let us servants 
be killed, you must not be slain." Those who said this were young 
Barotse who had been drilled to fighting Tby Sebituane, and used 
shields of ox-hide. They beat off the party of Limboa, ten being- 
wounded, and ten slain in the engagement. Limboa subsequently 
sent three slaves as a self-imposed fine to Masiko for attacking 
him. I succeeded in getting the Makololo to treat the messengers 
of Masiko well, though, as they regarded them as rebels, it was 
somewhat against the grain at first to speak civilly to them. 

Mpololo, attempting to justify an opposite line of conduct, told 
me how they had fled from Sebituane, even though he had given 
them numbers of cattle after their subjection by his arms, and was 
rather surprised to find that I was disposed to think more highly 
of them for having asserted their independence, even at the loss 
of milk. For this food, all who have been accustomed to it from 
infancy in Africa have an excessive longing. I pointed out how 
they might be mutually beneficial to each other by the exchange 
of canoes and cattle. 

There are some very old Barotse living here who were the com- 
panions of the old chief Santuru. These men, protected by their 
age, were very free in their comments on the "upstart" Makololo. 
One of them, for instance, interrupted my conversation one day 
with some Makololo gentlemen with the advice " not to believe 
them, for they were only a set of thieves ;" and it was taken in 
quite a good-natured way. It is remarkable that none of the an- 
cients here had any tradition of an earthquake having occurred in 
this region. Their quick perception of events recognizable by the 
senses, and retentiveness of memory, render it probable that no 
perceptible movement of the earth has taken place between 7° and 
27° S. in the centre of the continent during the last two centuries 
at least. There is no appearance of recent fracture or disturbance 
of rocks to be seen in the central country, except the falls of 
Gonye ; nor is there any evidence or tradition of hurricanes. 

I left Naliele on the 13th of August, and, when proceeding 
along the shore at midday, a hippopotamus struck the canoe with 
her forehead, lifting one half of it quite out of the water, so as 
nearly to overturn it. The force of the butt she gave tilted 



GONYE.— END OF WINTEE. 537 

Mashauana out into the river ; the rest of us sprang to the shore, 
which was only about ten yards off. Glancing back, I saw her 
come to the surface a short way off, and look to the canoe, as if to 
see if she had done much mischief. It was a female, whose young 
one had been speared the day before. No damage was done ex- 
cept wetting person and goods. This is so unusual an occur- 
rence, when the precaution is taken to coast along the shore, that 
my men exclaimed, " Is the beast mad ?" There were eight of us 
in the canoe at the time, and the shake it received shows the im- 
mense power of this animal in the water. 

On reaching Gonye, Mokwala, the head man, having presented 
me with a tusk, I gave it to Pitsane, as he, was eagerly collecting 
ivory for the Loanda market. The rocks of Gonye are reddisli 
gray sandstone, nearly horizontal, and perforated by madrepores, 
the holes showing the course of the insect in different directions. 
The rock itself has been impregnated with iron, and that hardened, 
forms a glaze on the surface — an appearance common to many of 
the rocks of this country. 

August 22d. This is the end of winter. The trees which line 
the banks begin to bud and blossom, and there is some show of 
the influence of the new sap, which will soon end in buds that 
push off the old foliage by assuming a very bright orange color. 
This orange is so bright that I mistook it for masses of yellow 
blossom. There is every variety of shade in the leaves — yellow, 
purple, copper, liver-color, and even inky black. 

Having got the loan of other canoes from Mpololo, and three 
oxen as provision for the way, which made the number we had 
been presented with in the Barotse valley amount to thirteen, we 
proceeded down the river toward Sesheke, and were as much 
struck as formerly with the noble river. The whole scenery is 
lovely, though the atmosphere is murky in consequence of the 
continuance of the smoky tinge of winter. 

This peculiar tinge of the atmosphere was observed every win- 
ter at Kolobeng, but it was not so observable in Londa as in the 
south, though I had always considered that it was owing to the 
extensive burnings of the grass, in which hundreds of miles of 
pasturage are annually consumed. As the quantity burned in the 
north is very much greater than in the south, and the smoky 
tinge of winter was not observed, some other explanation than 



538 HORNETS. 

these burnings must be sought for. I have sometimes imagined 
that the lowering of the temperature in the winter rendered the 
vapor in the upper current of air visible, and imparted this hazy 
appearance. 

The amount of organic life is surprising. At the time the 
river begins to rise, the Ibis religiosa comes down in flocks of 
fifties, with prodigious numbers of other water-fowl. Some of the 
sand-banks appear whitened during the day with flocks of peli- 
cans — I once counted three hundred; others are brown with 
ducks (Anas histrionica) — I got fourteen of these by one shot 
{Querquedula Jlottentota, Smith), and other kinds. Great num- 
bers of gulls {Procellaria turtur. Smith), and several others, float 
over the surface. The vast quantity of small birds, which feed 
on insects, show that the river teems also with specimens of mi- 
nute organic life. In walking among bushes on the banks we are 
occasionally stung by a hornet, which makes its nest in form like 
that of our own wasp, and hangs it on the branches of trees. The 
breeding oropyri is so strong in this insect that it pursues any one 
twenty or thirty yards who happens to brush too closely past its 
nest. The sting, which it tries to inflict near the eye, is more 
like a discharge of electricity from a powerful machine, or a vio- 
lent blow, than aught else. It produces momentary insensibility, 
and is followed by the most pungent pain. Yet this insect is 
quite timid when away from its nest. It is named Murotuani by 
the Bechuanas. 

We have tsetse between Nameta and Sekhosi. An insect of 
prey, about an inch in length, long-legged and gaunt-looking, may 
be observed flying about and lighting upon the bare ground. It 
is a tiger in its way, for it springs upon tsetse and other flies, and, 
sucking out their blood, throws the bodies aside. 

Long before reaching Sesheke we had been informed that a 
party of Matebele, the people of Mosilikatse, had brought some 
packages of goods for me to the south bank of the river, near 
the Victoria Falls, and, though they declared that they had been 
sent by Mr. Moflat, the Makololo had refused to credit the state- 
ment of their sworn enemies. They imagined that the parcels 
were directed to me as a mere trick, whereby to place witch- 
craft-medicine into the hands of the Makololo. When the Mate- 
bele on the south bank called to the Makololo on the north to 



DISCOVERY FORESTALLED. 539 

come over in canoes and receive the goods sent by Moffat to 
"Nake," the Makololo replied, "Go along with you, we know 
better than that ; how could he tell Moflfat to send his things 
here, he having gone away to the north?" The Matebele an- 
swered, " Here are the goods ; we place them now before you, 
and if you leave them to perish the guilt will be yours." When 
they had departed the Makololo thought better of it, and, after 
much divination, went over with fear and trembling, and carried 
the packages carefully to an island in the middle of the stream ; 
then, building a hut over them to protect them from the weather, 
they left them ; and there I found they had remained from Sep- 
tember, 1854, till September, 1855, in perfect safety. Here, as 
I had often experienced before, I found the news was very old, 
and had lost much of its interest by keeping, but there were 
some good eatables from Mrs. Moffat. Among other things, 
I discovered that my friend. Sir E-oderick Murchison, while in 
his study in London, had arrived at the same conclusion respect- 
ing the form of the African continent as I had lately come to on 
the spot (see note p. 512) ; and that, from the attentive study of 
the geological map of Mr. Bain and other materials, some of 
which were furnished by the discoveries of Mr. Oswell and my- 
self, he had not only clearly enunciated the peculiar configura- 
tion as an hypothesis in his discourse before the Geographical 
Society in 1852, but had even the assurance to send me out 
a copy for my information! There was not much use in nurs- 
ing my chagrin at being thus fairly "cut out" by the man who 
had foretold the existence of the Australian gold before its dis- 
covery, for here it was in black and white. In his easy-chair he 
had forestalled me by three years, though I had been working 
hard through jungle, marsh, and fever, and, since the light dawn- 
ed on my mind at Dilolo, had been cherishing the pleasing delu- 
sion that I should be the first to suggest the idea that the inte- 
rior of Africa was a watery plateau of less elevation than flanking 
hilly ranges. 

Having waited a few days at Sesheke till the horses which we 
had left at Linyanti should arrive, we proceeded to that town, 
and found the wagon, and every thing we had left in November, 
1853, perfectly safe. A grand meeting of all the people was 
called to receive our report, and the articles which had been sent 



540 TEADING-PAETY TO LOANDA. 

bj the governor and merchants of Loanda. I explained that 
none of these were my property, but that they were sent to show 
the friendly feelings of the white men, and their eagerness to en- 
ter into commercial relations with the Makololo. I then request- 
ed my companions to give a true account of what they had seen. 
The wonderful things lost nothing in the telling, the climax al- 
ways being that they had finished the whole world, and had 
turned only when there was no more land. One glib old gentle- 
man asked, " Then you reached Ma E-obert (Mrs. L.) ?" They 
were obliged to confess that she lived a little beyond the world. 
The presents were received with expressions of great satisfaction 
and delight ; and on Sunday, when Sekeletu made his appearance 
at church in his uniform, it attracted more attention than the ser- 
mon ; and the kind expressions they made use of respecting my- 
self were so very flattering that I felt inclined to shut my eyes. 
Their private opinion must have tallied with their public report, 
for I very soon received offers from volunteers to accompany me 
to the east coast. They said they wished to be able to return 
and relate strange things like my recent companions ; and Seke- 
letu immediately made arrangements with the Arab Ben Habib to 
conduct a fresh party with a load of ivory to Loanda. These, he 
said, must go with him and learn to trade : they were not to have 
any thing to do in the disposal of the ivory, but simply look and 
learn. My companions were to remain and rest themselves, and 
then return to Loanda when the others had come home. Seke- 
letu consulted me as to sending presents back to the governor and 
merchants of Loanda, but, not possessing much confidence in this 
Arab, I advised him to send a present by Pitsane, as he knew who 
ought to receive it. 

Since my arrival in England, information has been received 
from Mr. Gabriel that this party had arrived on the west coast, 
but that the ivory had been disposed of to some Portuguese mer- 
chants in the interior, and the men had been obliged to carry it 
down to Loanda. They had not been introduced to Mr. Gabriel, 
but that gentleman, having learned that they were in the city, went 
to them, and pronounced the names Pitsane, Mashauana, when all 
started up and crowded round him. When Mr. G. obtained an 
interpreter, he learned that they had been ordered by Sekeletu to 
be sure and go to my Ibrother, as he termed him. Mr. G. behaved 



DIFFICULTIES IN TKADING. 541 

in the same liberal manner as he had done to my companions, and 
thej departed for their distant home after bidding him a formal 
and affectionate adieu. 

It was to be expected that they would be imposed upon in their 
first attempt at trading, but I believe that this could not be so 
easily repeated. It is, however, unfortunate that in dealing with 
the natives in the interior there is no attempt made at the estab- 
lishment of fair prices. The trader shows a quantity of goods, 
the native asks for more, and more is given. The native, being- 
ignorant of the value of the goods or of his ivory, tries what an- 
other demand will bring. After some haggling, an addition is 
made, and that bargain is concluded to the satisfaction of both 
parties. Another trader comes, and perhaps offers more than the 
first ; the customary demand for an addition is made, and he yields. 
The natives by this time are beginning to believe that the more 
they ask the more they will get : they continue to urge, the trader 
bursts into a rage, and the trade is stopped, to be renewed next 
day by a higher offer. The natives naturally conclude that they 
were right the day before, and a most disagreeable commercial in- 
tercourse is established. A great amount of time is spent in con- 
cluding these bargains. In other parts, it is quite common to see 
the natives going from one trader to another till they have fin- 
ished the whole village ; and some give presents of brandy to 
tempt their custom. Much of this unpleasant state of feeling be- 
tween natives and Europeans results from the commencements 
made by those who were ignorant of the language, and from the 
want of education being given at the same time. 

During the time of our absence at Loanda, the Makololo had 
made two forays, and captured large herds of cattle. One, to the 
lake, was in order to punish Lechulatebe for the insolence he 
had manifested after procuring some fire-arms ; and the other to 
.Sebola Makwaia, a chief living far to the N.E. This was most 
unjustifiable, and had been condemned by all the influential 
Makololo. Ben Habib, however, had, in coming from Zanzibar, 
visited Sebola Makwaia, and found that the chief town was gov- 
erned by an old woman of that name. She received him kindly, 
and gave him a large quantity of magnificent ivory, sufficient to 
set him up as a trader, at a very small cost ; but, his party having 
discharged their guns, Ben Habib observed that the female chief 



542 DEATH OF INFLUENTIAL MEN. 

• and her people were extremely alarmed, and would have fled and 
left their cattle in a panic, had he not calmed their fears. Ben 
Hahib informed the uncle of Sekeletu that he could easily guide 
him thither, and he might get a large number of cattle without 
any difficulty. This uncle advised Sekeletu to go ; and, as the 
only greatness he knew was imitation of his father's deeds, he 
went, but was not so successful as was anticipated. Sebola 
Makwaia had fled on hearing of the approach of the Makololo ; 
and, as the country is marshy and intersected in every direction 
by rivers, they could not easily pursue her. They captured ca- 
noes, and, pursuing up different streams, came to a small lake 
called " Shuia." Having entered the Loangwa, flowing to the 
eastward, they found it advisable to return, as the natives in those 
parts became more warlike the further they went in that direc- 
tion. Before turning, the Arab pointed out an elevated ridge in 
the distance, and said to the Makololo, " When we see that, wc 
always know that we are only ten or fifteen days from the sea." 
On seeing him afterward, he informed me that on the same ridge, 
but much further to the north, the Banyassa lived, and that the 
rivers flowed from it toward the S.W. He also confirmed the 
other Arab's account that the Loapula, which he had crossed at 
the town of Cazembe, flowed in the same direction, and into the 
Leeambye. 

Several of the influential Makololo who had engaged in these 
marauding expeditions had died before our arrival, and Nokwanc 
had succumbed to his strange disease. E-amosantane had perished 
through vomiting blood from over-fatigue in the march, and Leri- 
mo was affected by a leprosy peculiar to the Barotse valley. In 
accordance with the advice of my Libonta friends, I did not fail to 
reprove "my child Sekeletu" for his marauding. This was not 
done in an angry manner, for no good is ever achieved by fierce 
denunciations. Motibe, his father-in-law, said to me, "Scold him 
much, but don't let others hear you." 

The Makololo expressed great satisfaction with the route we 
had opened up to the west, and soon after our arrival a "picho" 
was called, in order to discuss the question of removal to the 
Barotse valley, so that they might be nearer the market. Some 
of the older men objected to abandoning the line of defense afford- 
ed by the rivers Chobe and Zambesi against their southern ene- 



CLIMATE.— DISEASES. 543 

mies the Matebele. The Makololo generally have an aversion to 
the Barotse valley, on account of the fevers which are annually 
engendered in it as the waters dry up. They prefer it only as a 
cattle station ; for, though the herds are frequently thinned by 
an epidemic disease {^jpervpneumonia\ they breed so fast that 
the losses are soon made good. Wherever else the Makololo go, 
they always leave a portion of their stock in the charge of herds- 
men in that prolific valley. Some of the younger men objected 
to removal, because the rankness of the grass at the Barotse did 
not allow of their running fast, and because there " it never be- 
comes cool." 

Sekeletu at last stood up, and, addressing me, said, "I am per- 
fectly satisfied as to the great advantages for trade of the path 
which you have opened, and think that we ought to go to the Ba- 
rotse, in order to make the way from us to Loanda shorter ; but 
with whom am I to live there ? If you were coming with us, I 
would remove to-morrow; but now you are going to the white man's 
country to bring Ma Robert, and when you return you will find 
me near to the spot on which you wish to dwell." I had then no 
idea that any healthy spot existed in the country, and thought 
only of a convenient central situation, adapted for intercourse with 
the adjacent tribes and with the coast, such as that near to the 
confluence of the Leeba and Leeambye. 

The fever is certainly a drawback to this otherwise important 
missionary field. The great humidity produced by heavy rains 
and inundations, the exuberant vegetation caused by fervid heat 
in rich moist soil, and the prodigious amount of decaying vegeta- 
ble matter annually exposed after the inundations to the rays of 
a torrid sun, with a flat surface often covered by forest through 
which the winds can not pass, all combine to render the climate 
far from salubrious for any portion of the human family. But 
the fever, thus caused and rendered virulent, is almost the only 
disease prevalent in it. There is no consumption or scrofula, 
and but little insanity. Smallpox and measles visited the coun- 
try some thirty years ago and cut off many, but they have 
since made no return, although the former has been almost 
constantly in one part or another of the coast. Singularly 
enough, the people used inoculation for this disease ; and iu 
one village, where they seem to have chosen a malignant case 



544 FIELD FOR THE PHILANTHROPIST. 

from which to inoculate the rest, nearly the whole village was cut 
off. I have seen but one case of hydrocephalus, a few of epilepsy, 
none of cholera or cancer, and many diseases common in England 
are here quite unknown. It is true that I suffered severely from 
fever, but my experience can not be taken as a fair criterion in 
the matter. Compelled to sleep on the damp ground month after 
month, exposed to drenching showers, and getting the lower 
extremities wetted two or three times every day, living on native 
food (with the exception of sugarless coifee, during the journey to 
the north and the latter half of the return journey), and that food 
the manioc roots and meal, which contain so much uncombined 
starch that the eyes become affected (as in the case of animals 
fed for experiment on pure gluten or starch), and being exposed 
during many hours each day in comparative inaction to the direct 
rays of the sun, the thermometer standing above 96° in the shade 
— these constitute a more pitiful hygiene than any missionaries 
who may follow will ever have to endure. I do not mention 
these privations as if I considered them to be '■'■sacrifices,'''' for I 
think that the word ought never to be applied to any thing we 
can do for Him who came down from heaven and died for us ; 
but I suppose it is necessary to notice them, in order that no un- 
favorable opinion may be formed from my experience as to what 
that of others might be, if less exposed to the vicissitudes of the 
weather and change of diet. 

I believe that the interior of this country presents a much more 
inviting field for the philanthropist than does the west coast, where 
missionaries of the Church Missionary, United Presbyterian, and 
other societies have long labored with most astonishing devoted- 
ness and never-flagging zeal. There the fevers are much more 
virulent and more speedily fatal than here, for from 8° south 
they almost invariably take the intermittent or least fatal type : 
and their effect being to enlarge the spleen, a complaint which is 
best treated by change of climate, we have the remedy at hand by 
passing the 20th parallel on our way south. But I am not to be 
understood as intimating that any of the numerous tribes are 
anxious for instruction : they are not the inquiring spirits we 
read of in other countries ; they do not desire the Gospel, because 
they know nothing about either it or its benefits ; but there is no 
impediment in the way of instruction. Every head man would 



PATH TO THE EAST COAST. 545 

Ibe proud of a European visitor or resident in his territory, and 
there is perfect security for life and property all over the interior 
country. The great barriers which have kept Africa shut are the 
unhealthiness of the coast, and the exclusive, illiberal disposition 
of the border tribes. It has not within the historic period been 
cut into by deep arms of the sea, and only a small fringe of its 
population have come into contact with the rest of mankind. 
Race has much to do in the present circumstances of nations ; 
yet it is probable that the unhealthy coast-climate has reacted on 
the people, and aided both in perpetuating their own degradation 
and preventing those more inland from having intercourse with 
the rest of the world. It is to be hoped that these obstacles will 
be overcome by the more rapid means of locomotion possessed in 
the present age, if a good highway can become available from the 
coast into the interior. 

Having found it impracticable to open up a carriage-path to 
the west, it became a question as to which part of the east coast 
we should direct our steps. The Arabs had come from Zanzibar 
through a peaceful country. They assured me that the powerful 
chiefs beyond the Cazembe on the N.E., viz., Moatutu, Moaroro, 
and Mogogo, chiefs of the tribes Batutu, Baroro, and Bagogo, 
would have no objection to my passing through their country. 
They described the population there as located in small villages 
like the Balonda, and that no difficulty is experienced in travel- 
ing among them. They mentioned also that, at a distance of ten 
days beyond Cazembe, their path winds round the end of Lake 
Tanganyenka. But when they reach this lake, a little to the 
northwest of its southern extremity, they find no difficulty in 
obtaining canoes to carry them over. They sleep on islands, for 
it is said to require three days in crossing, and may thus be forty 
or fifty miles broad. Here they punt the canoes the whole way, 
showing that it is shallow. There are many small streams in the 
path, and three large rivers. This, then, appeared to me to be 
the safest ; but my present object being a path admitting of water 
rather than land carriage, this route did not promise so much as 
that by way of the Zambesi or Leeambye. The Makololo knew 
all the country eastward as far as the Kafue, from having lived in 
former times near the confluence of that river with the Zambefsi, 
and they all advised this path in preference to that by the way of 

M M 



546 PATH TO THE EAST COAST. 

Zanzibar. The only difficulty that they assured me of was that in 
the falls of Victoria. Some recommended my going to Sesheke, 
and crossing over in a N.E. direction to the Kafue, which is only 
six days distant, and descending that river to the Zambesi. Oth- 
ers recommended me to go on the south bank of the Zambesi until 
I had passed the falls, then get canoes and proceed farther down 
the river. All spoke strongly of the difficulties of traveling on 
the north bank, on account of the excessively broken and rocky 
nature of the country near the river on that side. And when 
Ponuane, who had lately headed a foray there, proposed that I 
should carry canoes aloH'g that side till we reached the spot where 
the Leeambye becomes broad and placid again, others declared 
that, from the difficulties he himself had experienced in forcing the 
men of his expedition to do this, they believed that mine would 
be sure to desert me if I attempted to impose such a task upon 
them. Another objection to traveling on either bank of the river 
was the prevalence of the tsetse, which is so abundant that the in- 
habitants can keep no domestic animals except goats. 

While pondering over these diffisrent paths, I could not help re- 
gretting my being alone. If I had enjoyed the company of my 
former companion, Mr. Oswell, one of us might have taken the 
Zambesi, and the other gone by way of Zanzibar. The latter route 
' was decidedly the easiest, because all the inland tribes were friend- 
ly, while the tribes in the direction of the Zambesi were inimical, 
and I should now be obliged to lead a party, which the Batoka of 
that country view as hostile invaders, through an enemy's land ; 
but, as the prospect of permanent water-conveyance was good, I 
decided on going down the Zambesi, and keeping on the north 
bank, because, in the map given by Bowditch, Tete, the farthest 
inland station of the Portuguese, is erroneously placed on that 
side. Being near the end of September, the rains were expected 
daily; the clouds were collecting, and the wind blew strongly 
from the east, but it was excessively hot. All the Makololo urged 
me strongly to remain till the ground should be cooled by the 
rains ; and as it was probable that I should get fever if I com- 
menced my journey now, I resolved to wait. The parts of the 
country about 17° and 18° suiFer from drought and become dusty. 
It is but the commencement of the humid region to the north, and 
partakes occasionally of the character of both the wet and dry re- 



BEN HABIB'S PKOPOSAL. 547 

glons. Some idea may be formed of the heat in October by the 
fact that the thermometer (protected) stood, in the shade of my 
wagon, at 100° through the day. It rose to 110° if unprotected 
from the wind ; at dark it showed 89° ; at 10 a'clock, 80° ; and 
then gradually sunk till sunrise, when it was 70°. That is usu- 
ally the period of greatest cold in each twenty-four hours in this 
region. The natives, during the period of greatest heat, keep in 
their huts, which are always pleasantly cool by day, but close and 
suiFocating by night. Those who are able to afford it sit guz- 
zling beer or boyaloa. The perspiration produced by copious 
draughts seems to give enjoyment, the evaporation causing a feel- 
ing of coolness. The attendants of the chief, on these occasions, 
keep up a continuous roar of bantering, raillery, laughing, and 
swearing. The dance is kept up in the moonlight till past mid- 
night. The women stand clapping their hands continuously, and 
the old men sit admiringly, and say, "It is really very fine." 
As crowds came to see me, I employed much of my time in con- 
versation, that being a good mode of conveying instruction. In 
the public meetings for worship the people listened very attentive- 
ly, and behaved with more decorum than formerly. They really 
form a very inviting field for a missionary. Surely the oft-told 
tale of the goodness and love of our heavenly Father, in giving up 
his own Son to death for us sinners, will, by the power of his 
Holy Spirit, beget love in some of these heathen hearts. 

1st October. Before Ben Habib started for Loanda, he asked the 
daughter of Sebituane in marriage. This is the plan the Arabs 
adopt for gaining influence in a tribe, and they have been known 
to proceed thus cautiously to form connections, and gradually gain 
so much influence as to draw all the tribe over to their religion. I 
never heard of any persecution, although the Arabs with whom I 
came in contact seemed much attached to their religion. This 
daughter of Sebituane, named Manchunyane, was about twelve 
years of age. As I was the bosom-friend of her father, I was sup- 
posed to have a voice in her disposal, and, on being asked, object- 
ed to her being taken away, we knew not whither, and where we 
might never see her again. As her name implies, she was only a 
little black, and, besides being as fair as any of the Arabs, had 
quite the Arab features ; but I have no doubt that Ben Habib 
will renew his suit more successfully on some other occasion. In 



548 ^ MAIDEN'S CHOICE. 

these cases of marriage, the consent of the young women is seldom 
asked. A maid-servant of Sekeletu, however, pronounced bj the 
Makololo to he good-looking, was at this time sought in marriage 
"by five young men. Sekeletu, happening to be at my wagon 
when one of these preferred his suit, very coolly ordered all five 
to stand in a row before the young woman, that she might make 
her choice. Two refused to stand, apparently, because they could 
not brook '"the idea of a repulse, although willing enough to take 
her if Sekeletu had acceded to their petition without reference to 
her will. Three dandified fellows stood forth, and she unhesitat- 
ingly decided on taking one who was really the best looking. It 
was amusing to see the mortification exhibited on the black faces 
of the unsuccessful candidates, while the spectators greeted them 
with a hearty laugh. 

During the whole of my stay with the Makololo, Sekeletu 
supplied my wants abundantly, appointing some cows to furnish 
me with milk, and, when he went out to hunt, sent home orders 
for slaughtered oxen to be given. That the food was not given in 
a niggardly spirit may be inferred from the fact that, when I pro- 
posed to depart on the 20th of October, he protested against my 
going oif in such a hot sun. " Only wait," said he, " for the first 
shower, and then I will let you go." This was reasonable, for 
the thermometer, placed upon a deal box in the sun, rose to 138°. 
It stood at 108° in the shade by day, and 96° at sunset. If 
my experiments were correct, the blood of a European is of a 
higher temperature than that of an African. The bulb, held 
under my tongue, stood at 100° ; under that of the natives, at 98°. 
There was much sickness in the town, and no wonder, for part of 
the water left by the inundation still formed a large pond in the 
centre. Even the plains between Linyanti and Sesheke had not 
yet been freed from the waters of the inundation. They had 
risen higher than usual, and for a long time canoes passed from 
the one place to the other, a distance of upward of 120 miles, in 
nearly a straight line. We found many patches of stagnant wa- 
ter, which, when disturbed by our passing through them, evolved 
strong effluvia of sulphureted hydrogen. At other times these 
spots exhibit an efflorescence of the nitrate of soda ; they also conr 
tain abundance of lime, probably from decaying vegetable matter, 
and from these may have emanated the malaria which caused 



CONVERSATIONS WITH MAKOLOLO, 549 

the present sickness. I have often remarked this effluvium in 
sickly spots, and can not help helieving but that it has^some con- 
nection with fever, though I am quite aware of Dr. Mac Williams's 
unsuccessful efforts to discover sulphureted hydrogen, by the most 
delicate tests, in the Niger expedition. 

I had plenty of employment, for, besides attending to the severer 
cases, I had perpetual calls on my attention. The town contained 
at least 7000 inhabitants, and every one thought that he might 
come, and at least look at me. In talking with some of the more 
intelligent in the evenings, the conversation having turned from 
inquiries respecting eclipses of the sun and moon to that other 
world where Jesus reigns, they let me know that mj attempts to 
enlighten them had not been without some small effect. " Many 
of the children," said they, " talk about the strange things you 
bring to their ears, but the old men show a little opposition by 
saying, ' Do we know what he is talking about V " Ntlaria and 
others complain of treacherous memories, and say, " When we 
hear words about other things, we hold them fast ; but when we 
hear you tell much more wonderful things than any we have ever 
heard before, we don't know how it is, they run away from our 
hearts." These are the more intelligent of my Makololo friends. 
On the majority the teaching produces no appreciable effect ; 
they assent to the truth with the most perplexing indifference, 
adding, " But we don't know," or, " We do not understand." My 
medical intercourse with them enabled me to ascertain their moral 
status better than a mere religious teacher could do. They do 
not attempt to hide the evil, as men often do, from their spiritual 
instructors ; but I have found it difficult to come to a conclusion 
on their character. They sometimes perform actions remarkably 
good, and sometimes as strangely the opposite. I have been 
unable to ascertain the motive for the good, or account for the 
callousness of conscience with which they perpetrate the bad. 
After long observation, I came to the conclusion that they are just 
such a strange mixture of good and evil as men are every where 
else. There is not among them an approach to that constant 
stream of benevolence flowing from the rich to the poor which we 
have in England, nor yet the unostentatious attentions which we 
have among our own poor to each other. Yet there are frequent 
instances of genuine kindness and liberality, as Well as actions of 



550 MOEAL CHAKACTER OF THE MAKOLOLO. 

an opposite character. The rich show kindness to the poor in 
expectation of services, and a poor person who has no relatives 
will seldom be supplied even with water in illness, and, when dead, 
will he dragged out to be devoured by the hysenas instead of be- 
ing buried. Relatives alone will condescend to touch a dead body. 
It would be easy to enumerate instances of inhumanity which I 
have witnessed. An interesting-looking girl came to my wagon 
one day in a state of nudity, and almost a skeleton. She was a 
captive from another tribe, and had been neglected by the man 
who claimed her. Having supplied her wants, I made inquiry for 
him, and found that he had been unsuccessful in raising a crop of 
corn, and had no food to give her. I volunteered to take her; 
but he said he would allow me to feed her and make her fat, and 
then take her away. I protested against his heartlessness ; and, 
as he said he could "not part with his child," I was precluded 
from attending to her wants. In a day or two she was lost sight 
of. She had gone out a little way from the town, and, being too 
weak to return, had been cruelly left to perish. Another day I 
saw a poor boy going to the water to drink, apparently in a 
starving condition. This case I brought before the chief in 
council, and found that his emaciation was ascribed to disease and 
want combined. He was not one of the Makololo, but a member 
of a subdued tribe. I showed them that any one professing to 
claim a child, and refusing proper nutriment, would be guilty of 
his death. Sekeletu decided that the owner of this boy should 
give up his alleged right rather than destroy the child. When I 
took him he was so far gone as to be in the cold stage of starva- 
tion, but was soon brought round by a little milk given three or 
four times a day. On leaving Linyanti I handed him over to the 
charge of his chief, Sekeletu, who feeds his servants very well. 
On the other hand, I have seen instances in which both men and 
women have taken up little orphans and carefully reared them as 
their own children. By a selection of cases of either kind, it 
would not be difficult to make these people appear excessively 
good or uncommonly bad. 

I still possessed some of the coffee which I had brought from 
Angola, and some of the sugar which I had left in my wagon. 
So long as the sugar lasted, Sekeletu favored me with his com- 
pany at meals ; but the sugar soon came to a close. The 



SEKELETU'S COMMISSIONS. 55X 

1 

Makololo, as formerly mentioned, were well acquainted with the 
sugar-cane, as it is cultivated by the Barotse, but never knew 
that sugar could be got from it. When I explained the process 
by which it was produced, Sekeletu asked if I could not buy 
him an apparatus for the purpose of making sugar. He said 
that he would plant the cane largely if he only had the means 
of making the sugar from it. I replied that I was unable to 
purchase a mill, when he instantly rejoined, " Why not take 
ivory to buy it ?" As I had been living at his expense, I was 
glad of the opportunity to show my gratitude by serving him ; 
and when he and his principal men understood that I was willing 
to execute a commission, Sekeletu gave me an order for a sugar- 
mill, and for all the different varieties of clothing that he had 
ever seen, especially a mohair coat, a good rifle, beads, brass- 
wire, etc., etc., and wound up by saying, "And any other beau- 
tiful thing you may see in your own country." As to the 
quantity of ivory required to execute the commission, I said I 
feared that a large amount would be necessary. Both he and his 
councilors replied, " The ivory is all your own ; if you leave any 
in the country it will be your own fault." He was also anxious 
for horses. The two I had left with him when I went to Loanda 
were still living, and had been of great use to him in hunting the 
, giraffe and eland, and he was now anxious to have a breed. This, 
I thought, might be obtained at the Portuguese settlements. All 
were very much delighted with the donkeys we had brought from 
Loanda. As we found that they were not affected by the bite of 
the tsetse, and there was a prospect of the breed being continued, 
it was gratifying to see the experiment of their introduction so far 
successful. The donkeys came as frisky as kids all the way from 
Loanda until we began to descend the Leeambye. There we 
came upon so many interlacing branches of the river, and were 
obliged to drag them through such masses of tangled aquatic 
plants, that we half drowned them, and were at last obliged to 
leave them somewhat exhausted at Naliele. They excited the 
unbounded admiration of my men by their knowledge of the dif- 
ferent kinds of plants, which, as they remarked, " the animals had 
never before seen in their own country ;" and when the donkeys 
indulged in their music, they startled the inhabitants more than if 
they had been lions. We never rode them, nor yet the horse 



552 AUTHOR'S INTLUENCE WITH NATIVES. 

which had been given by the bishop, for fear of hurting them by 
any work. 

Although the Makololo were so confiding, the reader must not 
imagine that they would be so to every individual who might visit 
them. Much of my influence depended upon the good name given 
me by the Bakwains, and that I secured only through a long 
course of tolerably good conduct. No one ever gains much in- 
fluence in this country without purity and uprightness. The acts 
of a stranger are keenly scrutinized by both young and old, and 
seldom is the judgment pronounced, even by the heathen, unfair 
or uncharitable. I have heard women speaking in admiration of 
a white- man because he was pure, and never was guilty of any 
secret immorality. Had he been, they would have known it, and, 
untutbred heathen though they be, would have despised him in 
consequence. Secret vice becomes known throughout the tribe; 
and while one, unacquainted with the language, may imagine a 
peccadillo to be hidden, it is as patent to all as it would be in 
London had he a placard on his back. 

11th October, 1855. The first continuous rain of the season 
commenced during the night, the wind being from the N.E., as it 
always was on like occasions at Kolobeng. The rainy season was 
thus begun, and I made ready to go. The mother of Sekeletu 
prepared a bag of ground-nuts, by frying them in cream with a 
little salt, as a sort of sandwiches for my journey. This is con- 
sidered food fit for a chief. Others ground the maize from my 
own garden into meal, and Sekeletu pointed out Sekwebu and 
Kanyata as the persons who should head the party intended to 
form my company. Sekwebu had been captured by the Matebele 
when a little boy, and the tribe in which he was a captive had 
migrated to the country near Tete ; he had traveled along both 
banks of the Zambesi several times, and was intimately acquainted 
with the dialects spoken there. I found him to be a person of 
great prudence and sound judgment, and his subsequent loss at 
the Mauritius has been, ever since, a source of sincere regret. He 
at once recommended our keeping well away from the river, on 
account of the tsetse and rocky country, assigning also as a rea- 
son for it that tlie Leeambye beyond the falls turns round to ths 
N.N.E. Mamire, who had married the mother of Sekeletu, on 
coming to bid me farewell before starting, said, "You are now 



MOTIBE'S EXCUSES. 553 

going among people who can not be trusted because we have used 
tliem badly ; but you go with a different message from any they 
ever heard before, and Jesus will be with you and help you, though 
among enemies ; and if he carries you safely, and brings you and 
Ma Robert back again, I shall say he has bestowed a great favor 
upon me. May we obtain a path whereby we may visit and be 
visited by other tribes, and by white men !" On telling him my 
fears that he was still inclined to follow the old marauding sys- 
tem, which prevented intercourse, and that he, from his influential 
position, was especially guilty in the late forays, he acknowledged 
all rather too freely for my taste, but seemed quite aware that the 
old system was far from right. Mentioning my inability to pay 
the men who were to accompany me, he replied, "A man wishes, 
of course, to appear among his friends, after a long absence, with 
something of his own to show ; the whole of the ivory in the coun- 
try is yours, so you must take as much as you can, and Sekeletu 
will furnish men to caiTy it." These remarks of Mamire are quoted 
literally, in order to show the state of mind of the most influential 
in the tribe. And as I wish to give the reader a fair idea of the 
other side of the question as well, it may be mentioned that Mo- 
tibe parried the imputation of the guilt of marauding by every pos- 
sible subterfuge. He would not admit that they had done wrong, 
and laid the guilt of the wars in which the Makololo had engaged 
on the Boers, the Matebele, and every other tribe except his own. 
When quite a youth, Motibe's family had been attacked by a party 
of Boers ; he hid himself in an ant-eater's hole, but was drawn out 
and thrashed with a whip of hippopotamus hide. When enjoined 
to live in peace, he would reply, " Teach the Boers to lay down 
their arms first." Yet Motibe, on other occasions, seemed to feel 
the difference between those who are Christians indeed and those 
who are so only in name. In all our discussions we parted good 
friends. 



554 A THUNDER-STOKM. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Departure from Linyanti. — A Thunder-storm. — An Act of genuine Kindness. — 
Fitted out a second time by the Makololo. — Sail down the Leeambye. — Sekote's 
Kotla and human Skulls ; his Grave adorned with Elephants' Tusks. — Victoriar 
Falls. — Native Names. — Columns of Vapor. — Gigantic Ci-ack. — Wear of the 
Rocks. — Shrines of the Barimo. — "The Pestle of the Gods." — Second Visit to 
the Falls. — Island Garden. — Store-house Island. — Native Diviners. — A Euro- 
pean Diviner. — Makololo Foray. — Marauder to be fined. — Mambari. — Makololo 
wish to stop Mambari Slave-trading. — Part with Sekeletu. — Night Traveling. — 
Eiver Lekone. — Ancient fresh-water Lakes. — Formation of Lake Ngami. — Na- 
tive Traditions. — Drainage of the Great Valley. — Native Reports of the Country 
to the North. — Maps. — Moyara's Village. — Savage Customs of the Batoka. — A 
Chain of Trading Stations. — Remedy against Tsetse. — "The Well of Joy." — 
First Traces of Trade with Europeans. — Knocking out the front Teeth. — Face- 
tious Explanation. — Degradation of the Batoka. — Description of the Traveling 
Party. — Cross the Unguesi. — Geological Formation. — Ruins of a large Tovra. — 
Productions of the Soil similar to those in Angola. — Abundance of Fruit. 

On the 3d of November we bade adieu to our friends at Lin- 
yanti, accompanied by Sekeletu and about 200 followers. We 
were all fed at his expense, and he took cattle for this purpose 
from every station we came to. The principal men of the Ma- 
kololo, Lebeole, Ntlarie, Nkwatlele, etc., were also of the party. 
We passed through the patch of the tsetse, which exists between 
Linyanti and Sesheke, by night. The majority of the company 
went on by daylight, in order to prepare our beds. Sekeletu and 
I, with about forty young men, waited outside the tsetse till dark. 
We then went forward, and about ten o'clock it became so pitchy 
dark that both horses and men were completely blinded. The 
lightning spread over the sky, forming eight or ten branches at a 
time, in shape exactly like those of a tree. This, with great vol- 
umes of sheet-lightning, enabled us at times to see the whole 
country. The intervals between the flashes were so densely dark 
as to convey the idea of stone-blindness. The horses trembled, 
cried out, and turned round, as if searching for each other, and 
every new flash revealed the men taking different directions, laugh- 
ing, and stumbling against each other. The thunder was of that 



KINDNESS OF MAKOLOLO. 555 

tremendously loud kind only to be heard in tropical countries, and 
which friends from India have assured me is louder in Africa than 
any they have ever heard elsewhere. Then came a pelting rain, 
which completed our confusion. After the intense heat of the day, 
we soon felt miserably cold, and turned aside to a fire we saw in 
the distance. This had been made by some people on their march; 
for this path is seldom without numbers of strangers passing to 
and from the capital. My clothing having gone on, I lay down 
on the cold ground, expecting to spend a miserable night ; but Se- 
keletu kindly covered me with his own blanket, and lay uncovered 
himself. I was much affected by this act of genuine kindness. 
If such men must perish by the advance of civilization, as certain 
races of animals do before others, it is a pity. God grant that 
ere this time comes they may receive that Gospel which is a solace 
for the soul in death ! 

While at Sesheke, Sekeletu supplied me with twelve oxen — 
three of which were accustomed to being ridden upon — hoes, anS 
beads to purchase a canoe when we should strike the Leeambye 
beyond the falls.. He likewise presented abundance of good fresh 
butter and honey, and did every thing in his power to make me 
comfortable for the journey. I was entirely dependent on his 
generosity, for the goods I originally brought from the Cape were 
all expended by the time I set oiF from Linyanti to the west 
coast. I there drew £70 of my salary, paid my men with it, and 
purchased goods for the return journey to Linyanti. These being 
now all expended, the Makololo again fitted me out, and sent me 
on to the east coast. I was thus dependent on their bounty, 
and that of other Africans, for the means of going from Linyanti 
to Loanda, and again from Linyanti to the east coast, and I feel 
deeply grateful to them. Coin would have been of no benefit, 
for gold and silver are quite unknown. We were here joined by 
Moriantsane, uncle of Sekeletu and head man of Sesheke, and, 
entering canoes on the 13th, some sailed down the river to the 
confluence of the Chobe, while others drove the cattle along the 
banks, spending one night at Mparia, the island at the confluence 
of the Chobe, which is composed of trap, having crystals of quartz 
in it coated with a pellicle of green copper ore. Attempting to 
proceed down the river next day, we were detained some hours by 
a strong east wind raising waves so large as to threaten to swamp 



556 SEKOTE'S ISLAND. 

the canoes. The river here is very large and deep, and contains 
two considerable islands, which from either bank seem to be joined 
to the opposite shore. While waiting for the wind to moderate, 
my friends related the traditions of these islands, and, as usual, 
praised the wisdom of Sebituane in balking the Batoka, who for- 
merly enticed wandering tribes to them, and starved them, by 
compelling the chiefs to remain by his side till all his cattle and 
people were ferried over. The Barotse believe that at certain 
parts of the river a tremendous monster lies hid, and that it will 
catch a canoe, and hold it fast and motionless, in spite of the 
utmost exertions of the paddlers. While near Nameta they even 
objected to pass a spot supposed to be haunted, and proceeded 
along a branch instead of the main stream. They believe that 
some of them possess a knowledge of the proper prayer to lay the 
monster. It is strange to find fables similar to those of the more 
northern nations even in the heart of Africa. Can they be the 
vestiges of traditions of animals which no longer exist? The 
fossil bones which lie in the calcareous tufa of this region will yet, 
we hope, reveal the ancient fauna. 

Having descended about ten miles, we came to the island of 
Nampene, at the beginning of the rapids, where we were obliged 
to leave the canoes and proceed along the banks on foot. The 
next evening we slept opposite the island of Chondo, and, then 
crossing the Lekone or Lekwine, early the following morning 
were at the island of Sekote, called Kalai. This Sekote was the 
last of the Batoka chiefs whom Sebituane rooted out. The isl- 
and is surrounded by a rocky shore and deep channels, through 
which the river rushed with great force. Sekote, feeling secure in 
his island home, ventured to ferry over the Matebele enemies of 
Sebituane. When they had retired, Sebituane made one of those 
rapid marches which he always adopted in every enterprise. He 
came down the Leeambye from Naliele, sailing by day along the 
banks, and during the night in the middle of the stream, to avoid 
the hippopotami. When he reached Kalai, Sekote took advan- 
tage of the larger canoes they employ in the rapids, and fled dur- 
ing the night to the opposite bank. Most of his people were 
slain or taken captive, and the island has ever since been under 
the Makololo. It is large enough to contain a considerable town. 
On the northern side I found the kotla of the elder Sekote, gar- 



VICTORIA FALLS. 557 

nished with numbers of human skulls mounted on poles : a large 
heap of the crania of hippopotami, the tusks untouched except by 
time, stood on one side. At a short distance, under some trees, 
we saw the grave of Sekote, ornamented with seventy large ele- 
phants' tusks planted round it with the points turned inward, and 
there were thirty more placed over the resting-places of his rela- 
tives. These were all decaying from the effects of the sun and 
weather ; but a few, which had enjoyed the shade, were in a pretty 
good condition. I felt inclined to take a specimen of the tusks 
of the hippopotami, as they were the largest I had ever seen, but 
feared that the people would look upon me as a " resurrectionist" 
if I did, and regard any unfavorable event which might afterward 
occur as a punishment for the sacrilege. The Batoka believe that 
Sekote had a pot of medicine buried here, which, when opened, 
would cause an epidemic in the country. These tyrants acted 
much on the fears of their people. 

As this was the point from which we intended to strike off to 
the northeast, I resolved on the following day to visit the falls of 
Victoria, called by the natives Mosioatunya, or more anciently 
Shongwe. Of these we had often heard since we came into the 
country ; indeed, one of the questions asked by Sebituane was, 
"Have you smoke that sounds in your country?" They did 
not go near enough to examine them, but, viewing them with 
awe at a distance, said, in reference to the vapor and noise, 
"Mosi oa tunya" (smoke does sound there). It was previ- 
ously called Shongwe, the meaning of which I could not ascer- 
tain. The word for a " pot" resembles this, and it may mean a 
seething caldron, but I am not certain of it. Being persuaded 
that Mr. Oswell and myself were the very first Europeans who 
ever visited the Zambesi in the centre of the country, and that 
this is the connecting link between the known and unknown 
portions of that river, I decided to use the same liberty as the 
Makololo did, and gave the only English name I have affixed to 
any part of the country. No better proof of previous ignorance 
of this river could be desired than that an untraveled gentleman, 
who had spent a great part of his life in the study of the ge- 
ography of Africa, and knew every thing written on the subject 
from the time of Ptolemy downward, actually asserted in the 
"Athenasum," while I was coming up the Eed Sea, that this 



558 VICTORIA FALLS. 

magnificent river, the Leeambye, had "no connection with the 
Zambesi, but flowed under the Kalahari Desert, and became lost;" 
and "that, as all the ojd maps asserted, the Zambesi took its rise 
in the very hills to which we have now come." This modest asser- 
tion smacks exactly as if a native of Timbuctoo should declare that 
the "Thames" and the "Pool" were diiferent rivers, he having seen 
neither the one nor the other. Leeambye and Zambesi mean the 
very same .thing, viz., the RiVEE. 

Sekeletu intended to accompany me, but, one canoe only having 
come instead of the two he had ordered, he resigned it to me. 
After twenty minutes' sail from Kalai we came in sight, for the 
first time, of the columns of vapor appropriately called " smoke," 
rising at a distance of five or six miles, exactly as when large 
tracts of grass are burned in Africa. Five columns now arose, 
and, bending in the direction of the wind, they seemed placed 
against a low ridge covered with trees ; the tops of the columns 
at this distance appeared to mingle with the clouds. They were 
white below, and higher up became dark, so as to simulate smoke 
very closely. The whole scene was extremely beautiful ; the 
banks and islands dotted over the river are adorned with sylvan 
vegetation of great variety of color and form. At the period of our 
visit several trees were spangled over with blossoms. Trees have 
each their own physiognomy. There, towering over all, stands 
the great burly baobab, each of whose enormous arms would form 
the trunk of a large tree, beside groups of graceful palms, which, 
with their feathery-shaped leaves depicted on the sky, lend their 
beauty to the scene. As a hieroglyphic they always mean "far 
from home," for one can never get over their foreign air in a pic- 
ture or landscape. The silvery mohonono, which in the tropics is 
in form like the cedar of Lebanon, stands in pleasing contrast with 
the dark color of the motsouri, whose cypress-form is dotted over 
at present with its pleasant scarlet fruit. Some trees resemble the 
great spreading oak, others assume the character of our own elms 
and chestnuts ; but no one can , imagine the beauty of the view 
from any thing witnessed in England. It had never been seen 
before by European eyes ; but scenes so lovely must have been 
gazed upon by angels in their flight. The only want felt is that 
of mountains in the background. The falls are bounded on three 
sides by ridges 300 or 400 feet in height, which are covered with 



VICTOKIA FALLS. 559 

forest, with the red soil appearing among the trees. When about 
half a mile from the falls, I left the canoe by which we had come 
down thus far, and embarked in a lighter one, with men well 
acquainted with the rapids, who, by passing down the centre of 
the stream in the eddies and still places caused by many jutting 
rocks, brought me to an island situated in the middle of the river, 
and on the edge of the lip over which the water rolls. In coming 
hither there was danger of being swept down by the streams 
which rushed along on each side of the island ; but the river was 
now low, and we sailed where it is totally impossible to go when 
the water is high. But, though we had reached the island, and 
were within a few yards of the spot, a view from which would 
solve the whole problem, I believe that no one could perceive 
where the vast body of water went ; it seemed to lose itself in 
the earth, the opposite lip of the fissure into which it disappeared 
being only 80 feet distant. At least I did not comprehend it until, 
creeping with awe to the verge, I peered down into a large rent 
which had been made from bank to bank of the broad Zambesi, 
and saw that a stream of a thousand yards broad leaped down a 
hundred feet, and then became suddenly compressed into a space 
of fifteen or twenty yards. The entire falls are simply a crack made 
m a hard basaltic rock from the right to the left bank of the Zam- 
besi, and then prolonged from the left bank away through thirty or 
forty miles of hills. If one imagines the Thames filled with low, 
tree-covered hills immediately beyond the tunnel, extending as far 
as Gravesend, the bed of black basaltic rock instead of London 
mud, and a fissure made therein from one end of the tunnel to the 
other down through the keystones of the arch, and prolonged 
from the left end of the tunnel through thirty miles of hills, the 
pathway being 100 feet down from the bed of the river instead of 
what it is, with the lips of the fissure from 80 to 100 feet apart, 
then fancy the Thames leaping bodily into the gulf, and forced 
there to change its direction, and flow from the right to the left 
bank, and then rush boiling and roaring through the hills, he may 
have some idea of what takes place at this, the most wonderful 
sight I had witnessed in Africa. In looking down into the fissure 
on the right of the island, one sees nothing but a dense white cloud, 
which, at the time we visited the spot, had two bright rainbows on 
it. (The sun was on the meridian, and the declination about equal 



560 GIGANTIC FISSUEE. 

to the latitude of the place.) From this cloud rushed up a great 
jet of vapor exactly like steam, and it mounted 200 or 300 
feet high.; there condensing, it changed its hue to that of dark 
smoke, and came back in a constant shower, which soon wetted us 
to the skin. This shower falls chiefly on the opposite side of the 
fissure, and a few yards back from the lip there stands a straight 
hedge of evergreen trees, whose leaves are always wet. From 
their roots a number of little rills run back into the gulf, but, 
as they flow down the steep wall there, the column of vapor, 
in its ascent, licks them up clean off the rock, and away they 
mount again. They are constantly running down, but never 
reach the bottom. 

On the left of the island we see the water at the bottom, a white 
rolling mass moving away to the prolongation of the fissure, which 
branches ofi'near the left bank of the river. A piece of the rock 
has fallen off a spot on the left of the island, and juts out from the 
water below, and from it I judged the distance which the water 
falls to be about 100 feet. The walls of this gigantic crack are 
perpendicular, and composed of one homogeneous mass of rock. 
The edge of that side over which the water falls is worn off two 
or three feet, and pieces have fallen away, so as to give it some- 
what of a serrated appearance. That over which the water does 
not fall is quite straight, except at the left corner, where a rent 
appears, and a piece seems inclined to fall off. Upon the whole, 
it is nearly in the state in which it was left at the period of its 
formation. The rock is dark brown in color, except about ten 
feet from the bottom, which is discolored by the annual rise of 
the water to that or a greater height. On the left side of the 
island we have a good view of the mass of water which causes one 
of the columns of vapor to ascend, as it leaps quite clear of the 
rock, and forms a thick unbroken fleece all the way to the bottom. 
Its whiteness gave the idea of snow, a sight I had not seen for 
many a day. As it broke into (if I may use the term) pieces of 
water, all rushing on in the same direction, each gave off several 
rays of foam, exactly as bits of steel, wlien burned in oxygen gas, 
give off rays of sparks. The snow-white sheet seemed like myri- 
ads of small comets rushing on intone direction, each of which left 
behind its nucleus rays of foam. I never saw the appearance re- 
ferred to noticed elsewhere. It seemed to be the effect of the 



THE LEEAMBYE, QQl 

mass of water leaping at once clear of the rock, and but slowly 
breaking up into spray. 

I have mentioned that we saw five columns of vapor ascending 
from this strange abyss. They are evidently formed by the com- 
pression suffered by the force of the water's own fall into an 
unyielding wedge-shaped space. Of the five columns, two on the 
right and one on the left of the island were the largest, and the 
streams which formed them seemed each to exceed in size the falls 
of the Clyde at Stonebyres when that river is in flood. This was 
the period of low water in the Leeambye ; but, as far as I could 
guess, there was a flow of five or six hundred yards of water, 
which, at the edge of the fall, seemed at least three feet deep. I 
write in the hope that others, more capable of judging distances 
than myself, will visit the scene, and I state simply the impressions 
made on my mind at the time. I thought, and do still think, the 
river above the falls to be one thousand yards broad ; but I am a 
poor judge of distances on water, for I showed a naval friend what 
I supposed to be four hundred yards in the Bay of Loanda, and, 
to my surprise, he pronounced it to be nine hundred. I tried to 
measure the Leeambye with a strong thread, the only line I had 
in my possession, but, when the men had gone two or three hund- 
red yards, they got into conversation, and did not hear us shout- 
ing that the line had become entangled. By still going on they 
broke it, and, being carried away down the stream, it was lost, 
on a snag. In vain I tried to bring to my recollection the way 
I had been taught to measure a river by taking an angle with 
the sextant. That I once knew it, and that it was easy, were 
all the lost ideas I could recall, and they only increased my vex- 
ation. However, I measured the river farther down by another 
plan, and then I discovered that the Posiuguese had measured it 
at Tete, and found it a little over one thousand yards. At the 
falls it is as broad as at Tete, if not more so. Whoever may come 
after me will not, I trust, find reason to say I have indulged in 
exaggeration. With respect to the drawing, it must be borne in 
mind that it was composed from a rude sketch as viewed from 
the island, which exhibited the columns of vapor only, and a 
ground plan. The artist has given a good idea of the scene, but, 
by way of explanation, he has shown more of the depth of the 
fissure than is visible except by, going close to the edge. The' 



562 WEAK OF THE EOCKS. 

left-hand column, and that farthest off, are the smallest, and all 
ought to have been a little more tapering at the tops. 

The fissure is said hy the Makololo to be very much deeper 
farther to the eastward ; there is one part at which the walls are 
so sloping that people accustomed to it can go down bj descend- 
ing in a sitting position. The Makololo on one occasion, pursu- 
ing some fugitive Batoka, saw them, unable to stop the impetus 
of their flight at the edge, literally dashed to pieces at the bottom. 
They beheld the stream like a " white cord" at the bottom, and 
so far down (probably 300 feet) that they became giddy, and were 
fain to go away holding on to the ground. 

Now, though the edge of the rock over which the river falls does 
not show wearing more than three feet, and there is no appear- 
ance of the opposite wall being worn out at the bottom in the parts- 
exposed to view, yet it is probable that, where it has flowed be- 
yond the walls, the sides of the fissure may have given way, and 
the parts out of sight may be broader than the " white cord" on 
the surface. There may even be some ramifications of the fissure, 
which take a portion of the stream quite beneath the rocks ; but 
this I did not learn. 

If we take the want of much wear on the lip of hard basaltic 
rock as of any value, the period when this rock was riven is not 
geologically very remote. I regretted the want of proper means 
of measuring and marking its width at the falls, in order that, at 
some future time, the question whether it is progressive or not 
might be tested. It seemed as if a palm-tree could be laid across 
it from the island. And if it is progressive, as it would mark 
a great natural drainage being effected, it might furnish a hope 
that Africa will one day become a healthy continent. It is, at 
any rate, very much changed in respect to its lakes within a com- 
paratively recent period. 

At three spots near these falls, one of them the island in the 
middle, on which we were, three Batoka chiefs offered up prayers 
and sacrifices to tlie Barimo. They chose their places of prayer 
within the sound of the roar of the cataract, and in sight of the 
bright bows in the cloud. They must have looked upon the 
scene with awe. Fear may have induced the selection. The 
river itself is to them mysterious. The words of the canoe-song 
are, 



ISLAND GARDEN. 553 

" The Leeambye ! Nobody knows 
Whence it comes and whither it goes." 

The play of colors of the double iris on the cloud, seen by them 
elsewhere only as the rainbow, may have led them to the idea 
that this was the abode of Deity. Some of the Makololo, who 
went with me near to Gonye, looked upon the same sign with awe. 
When seen in the heavens it is named "motse oa barimo" — the 
pestle of the gods. Here they could approach the emblem, and 
see it stand steadily above the blustering uproar below — a type of 
Him who sits supreme — alone unchangeable, though ruling over 
all changing things. But, not aware of His true character, they 
had no admiration of the beautiful and good in their bosoms. 
They did not imitate His benevolence, for they were a bloody, 
imperious crew, and Sebituane performed a noble service in the 
expulsion from their fastnesses of these cruel " Lords of the Isles." 

Having feasted my eyes long on the beautiful sight, I returned 
to ray friends at Kalai, and saying to Sekeletu that he had noth- 
ing else worth showing in his country, his curiosity was excited 
to visit it the next day. I returned with the intention of taking 
a lunar observation from the island itself, but the clouds were un- 
favorable, consequently all my determinations of position refer to 
Kalai. (Lat. 17° 51^ 54^^ S., long. 25^ 41^ E.) Sekeletu ac- 
knowledged to feeling a little nervous at the probability of being 
sucked into the gulf before reaching the island. His companions 
amused themselves by throwing stones down, and wondered to see 
them diminishing in size, and even disappearing, before they reach- 
ed the water at the bottom. 

I had another object in view in my return to the island. I ob- 
served that it was covered with trees, the seeds of which had 
probably come down with the stream from the distant north, and 
several of which I had seen nowhere else, and every now and then 
the wind wafted a little of the condensed vapor over it, and kept 
the soil in a state of moisture, which caused a sward of grass, 
growing as green as on an English lawn. I selected a spot — not 
too near the chasm, for there the constant deposition of the 
moisture nourished numbers of polypi of a mushroom shape and 
fleshy consistence, but somewhat back — and made a little garden. 
I there planted about a hundred peach and apricot stones, and a 
quantity of coffee-seeds. I had attempted fruit-trees before, but, 



564 DIVmEES, NATIVE AND EUKOPEAN. 

wlien left in charge of my Makololo friends, they were always 
allowed to wither, after having vegetated, "by heing forgotten. I 
bargained for a hedge with one of the Makololo, and if he is faith- 
ful, I have great hopes of Mosioatunya's abilities as a nui'sery- 
man. My only source of fear is the hippopotami, whose foot- 
prints I saw on the island. When the garden was prepared, I cut 
my initials on a tree, and the date 1855. This was the only in- 
stance in which I indulged in this piece of vanity. The garden 
stands in front, and, were there no hippopotami, I have no doubt 
but this will be the parent of all the gardens which may yet be 
in this new country. We then went up to Kalai again. 

On passing up we had a view of the hut on the island where 
my goods had lain so long in safety. It was under a group of 
palm-trees, and Sekeletu informed me that, so fully persuaded 
were most of the Makololo of the presence of dangerous charms 
in the packages, that, had I not returned to tell them the con- 
trary, they never would have been touched. Some of the diviners 
had been so positive in their decisions on the point, that the men 
who lifted a bag thought they felt a live kid in it. The diviners 
always quote their predictions when they happen to tally with 
the event. They declared that the whole party which went to 
Loanda had perished ; and as I always quoted the instances in 
which they failed, many of them refused to throw the "bola" (in- 
struments of divination) when I was near. This was a noted in- 
stance of failure. It would have afforded me equal if not greater 
pleasure to have exposed the failure, if such it had been, of the 
European diviner whose paper lay a whole year on this island, 
but I was obliged to confess that he had been successful with his 
"bola," and could only comfort myself with the idea that, though 
Sir Roderick Murchison's discourse had lain so long within sight 
and sound of the magnificent falls, I had been " cut out" by no 
one in their discovery. 

I saw the falls at low water, and the columns of vapor when 
five or six miles distant. When the river is full, or in flood, the 
columns, it is said, can be seen ten miles off, and the sound is 
quite distinct somewhat below Kalai, or about an equal distance. 
No one can then go to the island in the middle. The next vis- 
itor must bear these points in mind in comparing his description 
with mine. 



"LIFTING," NOT "STEAimG." 565 

We here got information of a foray which had been made by a 
Makololo man in the direction we were going. This instance of 
marauding was so much in accordance with the system which has 
been pursued in this country tliat I did not wonder at it. But 
the man had used Sekeletu's name as having sent him, and, the 
proof being convincing, he would undoubtedly be fined. 'As that 
would be the first instance of a fine being levied for marauding, I 
looked upon it as the beginning of a better state of things. In 
tribes which have been accustomed to cattle-stealing, the act is not 
considered immoral in the way that theft is. Before I knew the 
language well, I said to a chief, "You stole the cattle of so and 
so." "No, I did not steal them," was the reply, " I only lifted 
them." The word '■'■ gajocC is identical with the Highland term 
for the same deed. 

Another point came to our notice here. Some Mambari had 
come down thus far, and induced the Batoka to sell a very large 
tusk which belonged to Sekeletu for a few bits of cloth. They 
had gone among the Batoka who need hoes, and, having purchased 
some of these from the people near Sesheke, induced the others 
living farther east to sell both ivory and children. They would 
not part with children for clothing or beads, but agriculture with 
wooden hoes is so laborious, that the sight of the hoes prevailed. 
The Makololo proposed to knock the Mambari on the head as 
the remedy the next time they came ; but on my proposing that 
they should send hoes themselves, and thereby secure the ivory 
in a quiet way, all approved highly of the idea, and Pitsane and 
Mohorisi expatiated on the value of the ivory, their own willing- 
ness to go and sell it at Loanda, and the disgust with which the 
Mambari whom we met in Angola had looked upon their attempt 
to reach the proper market. If nothing untoward happens, I 
think there is a fair prospect of the trade in slaves being abolished 
in a natural way in this quarter, Pitsane and Mohorisi having 
again expressed their willingness to go away back to Loanda if 
Sekeletu would give them orders. This was the more remark- 
able, as both have plenty of food and leisure at home. 

20^A JSfovemher. Sekeletu and his large party having conveyed 
me thus far, and furnished me with a company of 114 men to 
carry the tusks to the coast, we bade adieu to the Makololo, and 
proceeded northward to the Lekone. The country around is 



566 ANCIENT LAKES. 

very beautiful, and was once well peopled with Batoka, who pos- 
sessed enormous herds of cattle. When Sebituane came in for- 
mer times, with his small but warlike party of Makololo, to this 
spot, a general rising took place of the Batoka through the whole 
country, in order to " eat him up ;" but his usual success followed 
him, and, dispersing them, the Makololo obtained so many cattle 
that they could not take any note of the herds of sheep and goats. 
The tsetse has been brought by buffaloes into some districts where 
formerly cattle abounded. This obliged us to travel the first 
few stages by night. We could not well detect the nature of the 
country in the dim moonlight ; the path, however, seemed to lead 
along the high bank of what may have been the ancient bed of 
the Zambesi before the fissure was made. The Lekone now winds 
in it in an opposite direction to that in which the ancient river 
must have flowed. 

Both the Lekone and Unguesi flow back toward the centre of 
the country, and in an opposite direction to that of the main 
stream. It was plain, then, that we were ascending the farther 
we went eastward. The level of the lower portion of the Lekone 
is about two hundred feet above that of the Zambesi at the falls, 
and considerably more than the altitude of Linyanti ; consequent- 
ly, when the river flowed along this ancient bed instead of through 
the rent, the whole country between this and the ridge beyond 
Libebe westward. Lake Ngami and the Zouga southward, and 
eastward beyond Nchokotsa, was one large fresh-water lake. 
There is abundant evidence of the existence and extent of this 
vast lake in the longitudes indicated, and stretching from 17° 
to 21° south latitude. The whole of this space is paved with a 
bed of tufa, more or less soft, according as it is covered with soil, 
or left exposed to atmospheric influences. Wherever ant-eat- 
ers make deep holes in this ancient bottom, fresh-water shells 
are thrown out, identical with those now existing in the Lake 
Ngami and the Zambesi. The Barotse valley was another lake 
of a similar nature ; and one existed beyond Masiko, and a 
fourth near the Orange Eiver. The whole of these lakes were 
let out by means of cracks or fissures made in the subtending 
sides by the upheaval of the country. The fissure made at the 
Victoria Falls let out the water of this great valley, and left a 
small patch in what was probably its deepest portion, and is 



TRADITIONS. 557 

now called Lake Ngami. The Falls of Gonye furnished an out- 
let to the lake of the Barotse valley, and so of the other great 
lakes of remote times. The Congo also finds its way to the sea 
through a narrow fissure, and so does the Orange River in the 
west ; while other rents made in the eastern ridge, as the Victoria 
Falls and those to the east of Tanganyenka, allowed the central 
waters to drain eastward. All the African lakes hitherto discov- 
ered are shallow, in consequence of being the mere residua of 
very much larger ancient bodies of water. There can he no doubt 
that this continent was, in former times, very much more copi- 
ously supplied with water than at present, but a natural process 
of drainage has been going on for ages. Deep fissures are made, 
probably by the elevation of the land, proofs of which are seen in 
modern shells imbedded in marly tufa all round the coast-line. 
Whether this process of desiccation is as rapid throughout the 
continent as, in a letter to the late Dean Buckland, in 1843, I 
showed to have been the case in the Beclmana country, it is not 
for me to say ; but, though there is a slight tradition of the wa- 
ters having burst through the low hills south of the Barotse, 
there is none of a sudden upheaval accompanied by an earth- 
quake. The formation of the crack of Mosioatunya is perhaps 
too ancient for that ; yet, although information of any remark- 
able event is often transmitted in the native names, and they 
even retain a tradition which looks like the story of Solomon 
and the harlots, there is not a name like Tom Earthquake or 
Sam Shake-the-ground in the whole country. They have a tra- 
dition which may refer to the building of the Tower of Babel, 
but it ends in the bold builders getting their crowns cracked 
by the fall of the scaffolding ; and that they came out of a cave 
called " Loey" (Noe ?) in company with the beasts, and all point 
to it in one direction, viz., the N.N.E. Loey, too, is an excep- 
tion in the language, as they use masculine instead of neuter pro- 
nouns to it. 

If we take a glance back at the great valley, the form the 
rivers have taken imparts the idea of a lake slowly drained out, 
for they have cut out for themselves beds exactly like what we 
may see in the soft mud of a shallow pool of rain-water, when 
that is let off by a furrow. This idea would probably not strike 
a person on coming first into the country, but more extensive 



568 DEAINAGE OF THE GEEAT VALLEY. 

acquaintance with the river system certainly would convey the 
impression. None of the rivers in the valley of the Leeamhye 
have slopes down to their beds. Indeed, many parts are much 
like the Thames at the Isle of Dogs, only the Leeambye has to 
rise twenty or thirty feet before it can overflow some of its mead- 
ows. The rivers have each a bed of low water — a simple furrow 
cut sharply out of the calcareous tufa which lined the channel of 
the ancient lake — and another of inundation. When the beds 
of inundation are filled, they assume the appearance of chains of 
lakes. When the Clyde fills the holms (" haughs") above Both- 
well Bridge and retires again into its channel, it resembles the 
river we are speaking of, only here there are no high lands slop- 
ing down toward the bed of inundation, for the greater part of 
the region is not elevated fifty feet above them. Even the rocky 
banks of the Leeambye below Gonye, and the ridges bounding 
the Barotse valley, are not more than two or three hundred feet 
in altitude over the general dead level. Many of the rivers are 
very tortuous in their course, the Chobe and Simah particularly 
so ; and, if w© may receive the testimony of the natives, they 
form what anatomists call anastamosis, or a network of rivers. 
Thus, for instance, they assured me that if they go up the Simah 
in a canoe, they can enter the Chobe, and descend that river to 
the Leeambye; or they may go up the Kama and come down 
the Simah ; and so in the case of the Kafue. It is reputed to 
be connected in this way with the Leeambye in the north, and to 
part with the Loangwa ; and the Makololo went from the one 
into the other in canoes. And even though the interlacing may 
not be quite to the extent believed by the natives, the country is 
so level and the rivers so tortuous that I see no improbability 
in the conclusion that here is a network of waters of a very 
peculiar nature. The reason why I am disposed to place a cer- 
tain amount of confidence in the native reports is this : when Mr. 
Oswell and I discovered the Zambesi in the centre of the con- 
tinent in 1851, being unable to ascend it at the time ourselves, 
we employed the natives to draw a map imbodying their ideas 
of that river. We then sent the native map home with the same 
view that I now mention their ideas of the river system, name- 
ly, in order t© be an aid to others in farther investigations. 
When I was able to ascend the Leeambye to 14° south, and sub- 



SAVAGE CUSTOMS OF BATOKA. 539 

sequently descend it, I found, after all the care I could bestow, 
that the alterations I was able to make in the original native plan 
were very trifling. The general idea their map gave was won- 
derfully accurate ; and now I give, in the larger map appended, 
their views of the other rivers, in the hope that they may 
prove helpful to any traveler who may pursue the investigation 
farther. 

2Ad,h. We remained a day at the village of Moyara. Here 
the valley in which the Lekone flows trends away to the east- 
ward, while our course is more to the northeast. The country is 
rocky and rough, the soil being red sand, which is covered with 
beautiful green trees, yielding abundance of wild fruits. The fa- 
ther of Moyara was a powerful chief, but the son now sits among 
the ruins of the town, with four or five wives and very few 
people. At his hamlet a number of stakes are planted in the 
ground, and I counted fifty-four human skulls hung on their 
points. These were Matebele, who, unable to approach Sebitu- 
ane on the island of Loyela, had returned sick and famishing. 
Moyara's father took advantage of their reduced condition, and 
after putting them to death, mounted their heads in the Batoka 
fashion. The old man who perpetrated this deed now lies in the 
middle of his son's huts, with a lot of rotten ivory over his grave. 
One can not help feeling thankful that the reign of such wretches 
is over. They inhabited the whole of this side of the country, 
and were probably the barrier to the extension of the Portuguese 
commerce in this direction. When looking at these skulls, I 
remarked to Moyara that many of them were those of mere 
boys. He assented readily, and pointed them out as such. I 
asked why his father had killed boys. " To show his fierceness," 
was the answer. "Is it fierceness to kill boys?" "Yes ; they 
had no business here." When I told him that this probably 
would insure his own death if the Matebele came again, he 
replied, "When I hear of their coming I shall hide the bones." 
He was evidently proud of these trophies of his father's ferocity, 
and I was assured by other Batoka that few strangers ever re- 
turned from a visit to this quarter. If a man wished to curry 
favor with a Batoka chief, he ascertained when a stranger was 
about to leave, and waylaid him at a distance from the town, and 
when he brought his head back to the chief, it was mounted as a 



570 EEMEDY AGAINST TSETSE. 

trophy, the different chiefs vieing with each other as to which 
should mount the greatest number of skulls in his village. 

If, as has heen asserted, the Portuguese ever had a chain of 
trading stations across the country from Caconda to Tete, it must 
have passed through these people; but the total ignorance of the 
Zambesi flowing from north to south in the centre of the country, 
and the want of knowledge of the astonishing falls of Victoria, 
which excite the wonder of even the natives, together with the 
absence of any tradition of such a chain of stations, compel me 
to believe that they existed only on paper. This conviction is 
strengthened by the fact that when a late attempt was made 
to claim the honor of crossing the continent for the Portu- 
guese, the only proof advanced was the journey of two black 
traders formerly mentioned, adorned with the name of '•'■ Portu- 
guese.'''' If a chain of stations had existed, a few hundred names 
of the same sort might easily have been brought forward ; and 
such is the love of barter among all the central Africans, that, 
had there existed a market for ivory, its value would have become 
known, and even that on the graves of the chiefs would not have 
been safe. 

When about to leave Moyara on the 25th, he brought a root 
which, when pounded and sprinkled over the oxen, is believed to 
disgust the tsetse, so that it flies off without sucking the blood. 
He promised to show me the plant or tree if I would give him an 
ox ; but, as we were traveling, and could not afford the time re- 
quired for the experiment, so as not to be cheated (as I had too 
often been by my medical friends), I deferred the investigation till 
I returned. It is probably but an evanescent remedy, and capa- 
ble of rendering the cattle safe during one night only. Moyara is 
now quite a dependent of the Makololo, and my new party, not 
being thoroughly drilled, forced him to carry a tusk for them. 
When I relieved him, he poured forth a shower of thanks at being 
allowed to go back to sleep beneath his skulls. 

Next day we came to Namilanga, or "The Well of Joy." It is 
a small well dug beneath a very large fig-tree, the shade of which 
renders the water delightfully cool. The temperature through the 
day was 104° in the shade and 94° after sunset, but the air was 
not at all oppressive. This well received its name from the fact 
that, in former times, marauding parties, in returning with cattle, 



KNOCKING OUT FKONT TEETH. 57 J 

sat down here and were regaled with Iboyaloa, music, and the lul- 
lilooing of the women from the adjacent towns. 

All the surrounding country was formerly densely peopled, 
though now desolate and still. The old head man of the place 
told us that his father once went to Bambala, where white traders 
lived, when our informant was a child, and returned when he had 
become a hoy of about ten years. He went again, and returned 
when it was time to knock out his son's teeth. As that takes 
place at the age of puberty, he must have spent at least five years 
in each journey. He added that many who went there never re- 
turned, because they liked that country better than this. They 
had even forsaken their wives and children; and children had been 
so enticed and flattered by the finery bestowed upon them there, 
that they had disowned their parents and adopted others. The 
place to which they had gone, which they named Bambala, was 
probably Dambarari, which was situated close to Zumbo. This 
was the first intimation we had of intercourse with the whites. 
The Barotse, and all the other tribes in the central valley, have no 
such tradition as this, nor have either the one or the other any ac- 
count of a trader's visit to them in ancient times. 

All the Batoka tribes follow the curious custom of knocking out 
the upper front teeth at the age of puberty. This is done by 
both sexes ; and though the under teeth, being relieved from the 
attrition of the upper, grow long and somewhat bent out, and 
thereby cause the under lip to protrude in a most unsightly way, 
no young woman thinks herself accomplished until she has got 
rid of the upper incisors. This custom gives all the Batoka an 
uncouth, old-man-like appearance. Their laugh is hideous, yet 
they are so attached to it that even Sebituane was unable to 
eradicate the practice. He issued orders that none of the chil- 
dren living under him should be subjected to the custom by their 
parents, and disobedience to his mandates was usually punished 
with severity ; but, notwithstanding this, the children would appear 
in the streets without their incisors, and no one would confess to 
the deed. When questioned respecting the origin of this practice, 
the Batoka reply that their object is to be like oxen, and those 
who retain their teeth they consider to resemble zebras. Wheth- 
er this is the true reason or not, it is difficult to say ; but it is no- 
ticeable that the veneration for oxen which prevails in many tribes 



572 THE TRAVELING PAETY. 

should here be associated with hatred to the zebra, as among the 
Bakwains ; that this operation is performed at the same age that 
circumcision is in other tribes ; and that here that ceremony is 
unknown. The custom is so universal that a person who has his 
teeth is considered ugly, and occasionally, when the Batoka bor- 
rowed my looking-glass, the disparaging remark would be made 
respecting boys or girls who still retained their teeth, "Look at 
the great teeth!" Some of the Makololo give a more facetious 
explanation of the custom : they say that the wife of a chief hav- 
ing in a quarrel bitten her husband's hand, he, in revenge, ordered 
her front teeth to be knocked out, and all the men in the tribe 
followed his example ; but this does not explain why they after- 
ward knocked out their own. 

The Batoka of the Zambesi are generally very dark in color, 
and very degraded and negro-like in appearance, while those who 
live on the high lands we are now ascending are frequently of the 
color of coffee and milk. We had a large number of the Batoka 
of Mokwine in our party, sent by Sekeletu to carry his tusks. 
Their greater degradation was probably caused by the treatment 
of their chiefs — the barbarians of the islands. I found them more 
difficult to manage than any of the rest of my companions, being 
much less reasonable and impressible than the others. My party 
consisted of the head men aforementioned, Sekwebu, and Kanyata. 
We were joined at the falls by another head man of the Makololo, 
named Monahin, in command of the Batoka. We had also some 
of the Banajoa under Mosisinyane, and, last of all, a small party 
of Bashubia and Barotse under Tuba Mokoro, which had been 
furnished by Sekeletu because of their ability to swim. They 
carried their paddles with them, and, as the Makololo suggested, 
were able to swim over the rivers by night and steal canoes, if the 
inhabitants should be so unreasonable as to refuse to lend them. 
These different parties assorted together into messes ; any orders 
were given through their head man, and when food was obtained 
he distributed it to the mess. Each party knew its own spot in 
the encampment ; and as this was always placed so that our 
backs should be to the east, the direction from whence the pre- 
vailing winds came, no time was lost in fixing the sheds of our 
encampment. They each took it in turn to pull grass to make 
my bed, so I lay luxuriously. 



PKODUCTIONS OF THE SOIL. 573 

Novemher l^th. As the oxen could only move at night, in con- 
sequence of a fear that the buffaloes in this quarter might have 
introduced the tsetse, I usually performed the march hy day on 
foot, while some of the men brought on the oxen by night. On 
coming to the villages under Marimba, an old man, we crossed the 
Unguesi, a rivulet which, like the Lekone, runs backward. It 
falls into the Leeambye a little above the commencement of the 
rapids. The stratified gneiss, which is the underlying rock of 
much of this part of the country, dips toward the centre of the 
continent, but the strata are often so much elevated as to appear 
nearly on their edges. Rocks of augitic trap are found in various 
positions on it ; the general strike is north and south ; but when 
the gneiss was first seen, near to the basalt of the falls, it was 
easterly and westerly, and the dip toward the north, as if the 
eruptive force of the basalt had placed it in that position. 

We passed the remains of a very large town, which, from the 
only evidence of antiquity afforded by ruins in this country, must 
have been inhabited for a long period ; the millstones of gneiss, 
trap, and quartz were worn down two and a half inches perpen- 
dicularly. The ivory grave-stones soon rot away. Those of Mo- 
yara's father, who must have died not more than a dozen years ago, 
were crumbling into powder; and we found this to be generally 
the case all over the Batoka country. The region around is pretty 
well covered with forest ; but there is abundance of open pasturage, 
and, as we are ascending in altitude, we find the grass to be short, 
and altogether unlike the tangled herbage of the Barotse valley. 

It is remarkable that we now meet with the same trees we saw 
in descending toward the west coast. A kind of sterculia, which 
is the most common tree at Loanda, and the baobab, flourish here ; 
and the tree called moshuka, which we found near Tala Mungongo, 
was now yielding its fruit, which resembles small apples. The 
people brought it to us in large quantities : it tastes like a pear, 
but has a harsh rind, and four large seeds within. We found pro- 
digious quantities of this fruit as we went along. The tree attains 
the height of 15 or 20 feet, and has leaves, hard and glossy, as large 
as one's hand. The tree itself is never found on the lowlands, but 
is mentioned with approbation at the end of the work of Bowditch. 
My men almost lived upon the fruit for many days. 

The rains had fallen only partially : in many parts the soil was 



574 ABUNDAlfCE OF FEUIT. 

quite dry and the leaves drooped mournfully, Tbut the fruit-trees 
are unaffected by a drought, except when it happens at the time 
of their blossoming. The Batoka of my party declared that no 
one ever dies of hunger here. We obtained baskets of maneko, 
a curious fruit, with a horny rind, split into five pieces : these sec- 
tions, when chewed, are full of a fine glutinous matter, and sweet 
like sugar. The seeds are covered with a yellow silky down, and 
are not eaten : the entire fruit is about the size of a walnut. We 
got also abundance of the motsouri and mamosho. We saw the 
Batoko eating the beans called nju, which are contained in a large 
square pod ; also the pulp between the seeds of nux vomica, and 
the motsintsela. Other fruits become ripe at other seasons, as the 
motsikiri, which yields an oil, and is a magnificent tree, bearing 
masses of dark evergreen leaves ; so that, from the general plenty, 
one can readily believe the statement made by the Batoka. We 
here saw trees allowed to stand in gardens, and some of the Bato- 
ka even plant them, a practice seen nowhere else among natives. 
A species of leucodendron abounds. When we meet with it on a 
spot on which no rain has yet fallen, we see that the young ones 
twist their leaves round during the heat of the day, so that the 
edge only is exposed to the rays of the sun ; they have then a 
half twist on the petiole. The acacias in the same circumstances, 
and also the mopane {Bauhania), fold their leaves together, and, 
by presenting the smallest possible surface to the sun, simulate 
the eucalypti of Australia. 



LOW HILLS. 575 



CHAPTEE XXVII. 

Low Hills. — Black Soldier-Ants ; their Cannibalism. — The Plasterer and its Chlo- 
roform. — White Ants; their Usefulness. — Mutokwane-smoking ; its Effects . — 
Border Territory. — Healthy Table-lands. — Geological Formation. — Cicadse. — 
Trees. — Flowers. — ^Eiver Kalomo. — Physical Conformation of Country. — Ridges, 
sanatoria. — A wounded Buffalo assisted. — Buffalo-bird. — Rhinoceros-bird. — 
Leaders of Herds. — The Honey-guide. — The White Mountain. — Mozuma River. 
— Sebituane's old Home. — Hostile Village. — Prophetic Phrensy. — Food of the El- 
ephant. — Ant-hills. — Friendly Batoka. — Clothing despised. — Method of Saluta- 
tion. — Wild Fruits. — The Captive released. — Longings for Peace. — Pingola's 
Conquests. — The Village of Monze. — Aspect of the Country. — Visit from the 
Chief Monze and his Wife. — Central healthy Locations. — Friendly Feelings of 
the People in reference to a white Resident. — Fertility of the Soil. — Bashuku- 
lompo Mode of dressing their Hair. — Gratitude of the Prisoner we released. — 
Kindness and Remarks of Monze's Sister. — Dip of the Rocks. — ^Vegetation. — 
Generosity of the Inhabitants. — Their Anxiety for Medicine. — Hooping-cough. 
— Birds and Rain. 

November 21th. Still at Marimba's. In the adjacent coun- 
try palms abound, but none of that species which yields the oil ; 
indeed, that is met with only near the coast. There are numbers 
of flowers and bulbs just shooting up from the soil. The surface 
is rough, and broken into gullies ; and, though the country is 
parched, it has not that appearance, so many trees having put 
forth their fresh green leaves at the time the rains ought to have 
come. Among the rest stands the mola, with its dark brownish- 
green color and spreading oak-like form. In the distance there 
are ranges of low hills. On the north we have one called Kan- 
jele, and to the east that of Kaonka, to which we proceed to-mor- 
row. We' have made a considerable detour to the north, both on 
account of our wish to avoid the tsetse and to visit the people. 
Those of Kaonka are the last Batoka we shall meet, in friendship 
with the Makololo.- . : • 

Walking down- to the forest, after telling these poor people, for 
the first time in their lives, that the Son of God had so loved them 
as to come down from heaven to save them, I observed many 



576 BLACK SOLDIER-ANTS. 

regiments of black soldier-ants returning from their marauding 
expeditions. These I have often noticed before in different parts 
of the country ; and as we had, even at Kolobeng, an opportunity 
of observing their habits, I may give a short account of them here. 
They are black, with a slight tinge of gray, about half an inch in 
length, and on the line of march appear three or four abreast; 
when disturbed, they utter a distinct hissing or chirping sound. 
They follow a few leaders who never carry any thing, and they 
seem to be guided by a scent left on the path by the leaders ; for, 
happening once to throw the water from my basin behind a bush 
where I was dressing, it lighted on the path by which a regiment 
had passed before I began my toilette, and when they returned 
they were totally at a loss to find the way home, though they 
continued searching for it nearly half an hour. It was found only 
by one making a long circuit round the wetted spot. The scent 
may have indicated also the propriety of their going in one di- 
rection only. If a handful of earth is thrown on the path at the 
middle of the regiment, either on its way home or abroad, those 
behind it are completely at a loss as to their farther progress. 
Whatever it may be that guides them, they seem only to know 
that they are not to return, for they come up to the handful of 
earth, but will not cross it, though not a quarter of an inch high. 
They wheel round and regain their path again, but never think of 
retreating to the nest, or to the place where they have been steal- 
ing. After a quarter of an hour's confusion and hissing, one may 
make a circuit of a foot round the earth, and soon all follow in 
that roundabout way. When on their way to attack the abode 
of the white ants, the latter may be observed rushing about in a 
state of great perturbation. The black leaders, distinguished from 
the rest by their greater size, especially in the region of the sting, 
then seize the white ants one by one, and inflict a sting, which 
seems to inject a portion of fluid similar in effect to chloroform, as 
it renders them insensible, but not dead, and only able to move 
one or two front legs. As the leaders toss them on one side, the 
rank and file seize them and carry them off. 

One morning I saw a party going forth on what has been sup- 
posed to be a slave-hunting expedition. They came 1 a stick, 
which, being inclosed in a white-ant gallery, I knew contained 
numbers of this insect ; but I was surprised to see the black sol- 



BLACK SOLDIEK-ANTS. 577 

diers passing without touching it. I lifted up the stick and broke 
a portion of the gallerj, and then laid it across the path in the 
middle of the black regiment. The white ants, when uncovered, 
scampered about with great celerity, hiding themselves under the 
leaves, but attracted little attention from the black marauders till 
one of the leaders caught them, and, applying liis sting, laid them 
in an instant on one side in a state of coma ; the others then 
promptly seized them and rushed off. On first observing these 
marauding insects at Kolobeng, I had the idea, imbibed from a 
work of no less authority than Brougham's Paley, that they seized 
the white ants in order to make them slaves ; but, having rescued 
a number of captives, I placed them aside, and found that they 
never recovered from the state of insensibility into which they had 
been thrown by the leaders. I supposed then that the insensibil- 
ity had been caused by the soldiers holding the necks of the white 
ants too tightly with their mandibles, as that is the way they seize 
them ; but even the pup^ which I took from the soldier-ants, 
though placed in a favorable temperature, never became developed. 
In addition to this, if any one examines the orifice by which the 
black ant enters his barracks, he will always find a little heap of 
hard heads and legs of white ants, showing that these black ruf- 
, fians are a grade lower than slave-stealers, being actually canni- 
bals. Elsewhere I have seen a body of them removing their eggs 
from a place in which they were likely to be flooded by the rains ; 
I calculated their numbers to be 1260 ; they carried their eggs a 
certain distance, then laid them down, when others took them and 
carried them farther on. Every ant in the colony seemed to be 
employed in this laborious occupation, yet there was not a white 
slave-ant among them. One cold morning I observed a band of 
another species of black ant returning each with a captive ; there 
could be no doubt of their cannibal propensities, for the "brutal 
soldiery" had already deprived the white ants of their legs. The 
fluid in the stings of this species is of an intensely acid taste. 

I had often noticed the stupefaction produced by the injection 
of a fluid from the sting of certain insects before. It is particu- 
larly observable in a hymenopterous insect called the '■'■ jplasterer'^ 
{Peloj)CBus Eckloni), which in his habits resembles somewhat the 
mason-bee. It is about an inch and a quarter in length, jet black 
in color, and may be observed coming into houses, carrying in 

Oo 



578 WHITE ANTS. 

its fore legs a pellet of soft plaster about the size of a pea. When 
it has fixed upon a convenient spot for its dwelling, it forms a cell 
about the same length as its body, plastering the walls so as to 
be quite thin and smooth inside. When this is finished, all except 
a round hole, it brings seven or eight caterpillars or spiders, each 
of which is rendered insensible, but not killed, by the fluid from 
its sting. These it deposits in the cell, and then one of its own 
larvffi, which, as it grows, finds food quite fresh. The insects are 
in a state of coma, but the presence of vitality prevents putridity, 
or that drying up which would otherwise take place in this climate. 
By the time the young insect is full grown and its wings com- 
pletely developed, the food is done. It then pierces the wall of 
its cell at the former door, or place last filled up by its parent, 
flies ofi", and begins life for itself. The plasterp' ms a most useful 
insect, as it acts as a check on the inordinate increase of cater- 
pillars and spiders. It may often be seen with a caterpillar or 
even a cricket much larger than itself, but they lie perfectly still 
after the injection of chloroform, and the plasterer, placing a row 
of legs on each side of the body, uses both legs and wings in trail- 
ing the victim along. The fluid in each case is, I suppose, designed 
to cause insensibility, and likewise act as an antiseptic, the death 
of the victims being without pain. 

Without these black soldier-ants the country would be overrun 
by the white ants ; they are so extremely prolific, and nothing can 
exceed the energy with which they work. They perform a most 
important part in the economy of nature by burying vegetable 
matter as quickly beneath the soil as the ferocious red ant does 
dead animal substances. The white ant keeps generally out of 
sight, and works under galleries constructed by night to screen 
them from the observation of birds. At some given signal, how- 
ever, I never could ascertain what, they rush out by hundreds, 
and the sound of their mandibles cutting grass into lengths may 
be heard like a gentle wind murmuring through the leaves of the 
trees. They drag these pieces to the doors of their abodes, and 
after some hours' toil leave off work, and many of the bits of 
grass may be seen collected around the orifice. They continue 
out of sight for perhaps a month, but they are never idle. On 
one occasion, a good bundle of grass was laid down for my bed 
on a spot which was quite smooth and destitute of plants. The 



EFFECTS OF SHOEING MUTOKWANE. 579 

ants at once sounded tlie call to a good supply of grass. I heard 
them incessantly nibbling and carrying away all that night ; and 
they continued all next day (Sunday), and all that night too, with 
unabated energy. They had thus been thirty-six hours at it, and 
seemed as fresh as ever. In some situations, if we remained a 
day, they devoured the grass beneath my mat, and would have 
eaten that too had we not laid down more grass. At some of 
their operations they beat time in a curious manner. Hundreds 
of them are engaged in building a large tube, and they wish to 
beat it smooth. At a signal, they all give three or four energetic 
beats on the plaster in unison. It produces a sound like the 
dropping of rain off a bush when touched. These insects are the 
chief agents employed in forming a fertile soil. But for their 
labors, the tropi ^1 forests, bad as they are now with fallen trees, 
would be a thousand times worse. They would be impassable 
on account of the heaps of dead vegetation lying on the surface, 
and emitting worse effluvia than the comparatively small unburied 
collections do now. When one looks at the wonderful adaptations 
throughout creation, and the varied operations carried on with such 
wisdom and skill, the idea of second causes looks clumsy. We 
are viewing the direct handiwork of Him who is the one and only 
Power in the universe ; wonderful in counsel ; in whom we all live, 
and move, and have our being. 

The Batoka of these parts are very degraded in their appear- 
ance, and are not likely to improve, either physically or mentally, 
while so much addicted to smoking the mutokwane {Cannabis 
sativa). They like its narcotic effects, though the violent fit of 
coughing which follows a couple of puffs of smoke appears dis- 
tressing, and causes a feeling of disgust in the spectator. This is 
not diminished on seeing the usual practice of taking a mouthful 
of water, and squirting it out together with the smoke, then 
uttering a string of half-incoherent sentences, usually in self- 
praise. This pernicious weed is extensively used in all the tribes 
of the interior. It causes a species of phrensy, and Sebituane's 
soldiers, on coming in sight of their enemies, ssft down and smoked 
it, in order that they might make an effective onslaught. I was 
unable to prevail on Sekeletu and the young Makololo to forego 
its use, although they can not point to an old man in the tribe 
who has been addicted to this indulgence. I believe it was the 



580 BORDER TERRITORY. 

proximate cause of Sebituane's last illness, for it sometimes occa- 
sions pneumonia. Never having tried it, I can not describe the 
pleasurable effects it is said to produce, but the hachshish in use 
among the Turks is simply an extract of the same plant, and 
that, like opium, produces different effects on different individuals. 
Some view every thing as if looking in through the wide end of a 
telescope, and others, in passing over a straw, lift up their feet as 
if about to cross the trunk of a tree. The Portuguese in Angola 
have such a belief in its deleterious effects that the use of it by a 
slave is considered a crime. 

November 2^th. The inhabitants of the last of Kaonka's vil- 
lages complained of being plundered by the independent Batoka. 
The tribes in front of this are regarded by the Makololo as in a 
state of rebellion. I promised to speak to the rebels on the sub- 
ject, and enjoined on Kaonka the duty of giving them no offense. 
According to Sekeletu's order, Kaonka gave us the tribute of 
maize-com and ground-nuts, which would otherwise have gone to 
Linyanti. This had been done at every village, and we thereby 
saved the people the trouble of a journey to the capital. My own 
Batoka had brought away such loads of provisions from their 
liomes that we were in no want of food. 

After leaving Kaonka we traveled over an uninhabited, gently 
undulating, and most beautiful district, the border territory be- 
tween those who accept and those who reject the sway of the 
Makololo. The face of the country appears as if in long waves, 
running north and south. There are no rivers, though water 
stands in pools in the hollows. We were now come into the 
country which my people all magnify as a perfect paradise. 
Sebituane was driven from it by the Matebele. It suited him 
exactly for cattle, corn, and health. The soil is dry, and often 
a reddish sand ; there are few trees, but fine large shady ones 
stand dotted here and there over the country where towns for- 
merly stood. One of the fig family I measured, and found to be 
forty feet in circumference ; the heart had been burned out, and 
some one had made a lodging in it, for we saw the remains of 
a bed and a fire. The sight of the open country, with the in- 
creased altitude we were attaining, was most refreshing to the 
spirits. Large game abound. We see in the distance buffaloes, 
elands, hartebeest, gnus, and elephants, all very tame, as no one 



THE KALOMO. ^ 581 

disturlbs them. Lions, which always accompany other large ani- 
mals, roared about us, but, as it was moonlight, there was no dan- 
ger. In the evening, while standing on a mass of granite, one 
began to roar at me, though it was still light. The temperature 
was pleasant, as the rains, though not universal, had fallen in 
many places. It was very cloudy, preventing observations. The 
temperature at 6 A.M. was 70°, at midday 90°, in the evening 
84°. This is very pleasant on the high lands, with but little 
moisture in the air. 

The different rocks to the westward of Kaonka's, talcose gneiss 
and white mica schist, generally dip toward the west, but at Ka- 
onka's, large rounded masses of granite, containing black mica, be- 
gan to appear. The outer rind of it inclines to peel off, and large 
crystals project on the exposed surface. 

In passing through some parts where a good shower of rain has 
fallen, the stridulous piercing notes of the cicadee are perfectly 
deafening ; a drab-colored cricket joins the chorus with a sharp 
sound, which has as little modulation as the drone of a Scottish 
bagpipe. I could not conceive how so small a thing could raise 
such a sound ; it seemed to make the ground over it thrill. When 
cicadas, crickets, and frogs unite, their music may be heard at the 
distance of a quarter of a mile. 

A tree attracted my attention as new, the leaves being like those 
of an acacia, but the ends of the branches from which they grew 
resembled closely oblong fir-cones. The corn-poppy was abund- 
ant, and many of the trees, flowering bulbs, and plants were iden- 
tical with those in Pungo Andongo. A flower as white as the 
snowdrop now begins to appear, and farther on it spots the whole 
sward with its beautiful pure white. A fresh crop appears every 
morning, and if the day is cloudy they do not expand till the aft- 
ernoon. In an hour or so they droop and die. They are named 
by the natives, from their shape, " Tlaku ea pitse," hoof of zebra. 
I carried several of the somewhat bulbous roots of this pretty 
flower till I reached the Mauritius. 

On the 30th we crossed the Eiver Kalomo, which is about 50 
yards broad, and is the only stream that never dries up on this 
ridge. The current is rapid, and its course is toward the south, 
as it joins the Zambesi at some distance below the falls. The 
Ungues! and Lekone, with their feeders, flow westward, this river 



582 CONFORMATION OF COUNTEY. 

to the south, and all those to which we are about to come take 
an easterly direction. We were thus at the apex of the ridge, and 
found that, as water boiled at 202°, our altitude above the level 
of the sea was over 5000 feet. Here the granite crops out again 
in great rounded masses which change the dip of the gneiss and 
mica schist rocks from the westward to the eastward. In cross- 
in o- the western ridge I mentioned the clay shale or keele forma- 
tion, a section of which we have in the valley of the Quango : the 
strata there lie nearly horizontal, but on this ridge the granite 
seems to have been the active agent of elevation, for the rocks, 
both on its east and west, abut against it. Both eastern and west- 
ern ridges are known to be comparatively salubrious, and in this 
respect, as well as in the general aspect of the country, they re- 
semble that most healthy of all healthy climates, the interior of 
South Africa, near and adjacent to the Desert. This ridge has 
neither fountain nor marsh upon it, and east of the Kalorao we 
look upon treeless undulating plains covered with short grass. 
From a point somewhat near to the great falls, this ridge or ob- 
long mound trends away to the northeast, and there treeless ele- 
vated plains again appear. Then again the ridge is said to 
bend away from the falls to the southeast, the Mashona country, 
or rather their mountains, appearing, according to Mr. MoiFat, 
about four days east of Matlokotloko, the present residence of 
Mosilikatse. In reference to this ridge he makes the interesting 
remark, "I observed a number of the Angora goat, most of them 
being white ; and their long soft hair, covering their entire bodies 
to the ground, made them look like animals moving along with- 
out feet."* 

It is impossible to say how much faiether to the north these 
subtending ridges may stretch. There is reason to believe that, 
though the same general form of country obtains, they are not 
flanked by abrupt hills between the latitude 12° south and the 
equator. The inquiry is worthy the attention of travelers. As 
they are known to be favorable to health, the Makololo, who 
have been nearly all cut off by fevers in the valley, declaring 
that here they never had a headache, they may even be recom- 
mended as a sanatorium for those whose enterprise leads them 

* Moffat's " Visit to Mosilikatse." — Royal Geographical Society's Journal, vol. 
xxvi., p. 96. 



CONFORMATION OF COUNTRY. 583 

into Africa, either for the advancement of scientific knowledge, or 
for the purposes of trade or benevolence. In the case of the east- 
ern ridge, we have water carriage, with only one short rapid as an 
obstruction, right up to its base ; and if a quick passage can be 
eifected during the healthy part of the year, there would be no 
danger of loss of health during a long stay on these high lands 
afterward. How much farther do these high ridges extend ? The 
eastern one seems to bend in considerably toward the great falls ; 
and the strike of the rocks indicating that, farther to the N.N.E. 
than my investigations extend, it may not, at a few degrees of 
latitude beyond, be more than 300 or 350 miles from the coast. 
They at least merit inquiry, for they afford a prospect to Europe- 
ans of situations superior in point of salubrity to any of those on 
the coast ; and so on the western side of the continent ; for it is 
a fact that many parts in the interior of Angola, which were for- 
merly thought to be unhealthy on account of their distance inland, 
have been found, as population advanced, to be the most healthy 
spots in the country. Did the great Niger expedition turn back 
when near such a desirable position for its stricken and prostrate 
members ? 

The distances from top to top of the ridges may be about 
10° of longitude, or 600 geographical miles. I can not hear of 
a hill on either ridge, and there are scarcely any in the space 
inclosed by them. The Monakadze is the highest, but that is not 
more than a thousand feet above the flat valley. On account 
of this want of hills in the part of the country which, by gentle 
undulations, leads one insensibly up to an altitude of 5000 feet 
above the level of the sea, I have adopted the agricultural term 
ridges, for they partake very much of the character of the oblong 
mounds with which we are all familiar. And we shall yet see 
that the mountains which are met with outside these ridges are 
only a low fringe, many of which are not of much greater altitude 
than even the bottom of the great central valley. If we leave out 
of view the greater breadth of the central basin at other parts, and 
speak only of the comparatively narrow part formed by the bend 
to the westward of the eastern ridge, we might say that the form 
of this region is a broad furrow in the middle, with an elevated 
ridge about 200 miles broad on either side, the land sloping thence, 
on both sides, to the sea. If I am right in believing the granite 



584 WOUNDED BUFFALO ASSISTED. 

to be the cause of the elevation of this ridge, the direction in 
which the strike of the rocks trends to the N.JST.E. may indicate 
that the same geological structure prevails farther north, and two 
or three lakes which exist in that direction may Ibe of exactly the 
same nature with Lake Ngami, having been diminished to their 
present size by the same kind of agency as that which formed the 
falls of Victoria. 

We met an elephant on the Kalomo which had no tusks. This 
is as rare a thing in Africa as it is to find them with tusks in 
Ceylon. As soon as she saw us she made off. It is remarkable 
to see the fear of man operating even on this huge beast. Buffa- 
loes abound, and we see large herds of them feeding in all direc- 
tions by day. When much disturbed by man they retire into the 
densest parts of the forest, and feed by night only. We secured 
a fine large bull by crawling close to a herd. When shot, he fell 
down, and the rest, not seeing their enemy, gazed about, won- 
dering where the danger lay. The others came back to it, and, 
when we showed ourselves, much to the amusement of my com- 
panions, they lifted him up with their horns, and, half supporting 
him in the crowd, bore him away. All these wild animals usu- 
ally gore a wounded companion, and expel him from the herd ; 
even zebras bite and kick an unfortunate or a diseased one. It 
is intended by this instinct that none but the perfect and healthy 
ones should propagate the species. In this case they manifested 
their usual propensity to gore the wounded, but our appearance 
at that moment caused them to take flight, and this, with the gor- 
ing being continued a little, gave my men the impression that 
they were helping away their wounded companion. He was shot 
between the fourth and fifth ribs ; the ball passed through both 
lungs and a rib on the opposite side, and then lodged beneath the 
skin. But, though it was eight ounces in weight, yet he ran off 
some distance, and was secured only by the people driving him 
into a pool of water and killing him there with their spears. 
The herd ran away in the direction of our camp, and then came 
bounding past us again. We took refuge on a large ant-hill, and 
as they rushed by us at full gallop I had a good opportunity of 
seeing that the leader of a herd of about sixty was an old cow ; 
all the others allowed h^ a full half-length in their front. On 
her withers sat about twenty buffalo-birds (Textor erythrorhyn- 



BUFFALO AND EHINOCEROS BIRDS. 585 

chus^ Smith), which act the part of guardian spirits to the animals. 
When the buffalo is quietly feeding, this bird may be seen hop- 
ping on the ground picking up food, or sitting on its back ridding 
it of the insects with which their skins are sometimes infested. 
The sight of the bird being much more acute than that of the 
buffalo, it is soon alarmed by the approach of any danger, and, 
flying up, the buffaloes instantly raise their heads to discover the 
cause which has led to the sudden flight of their guardian. They 
sometimes accompany the buffaloes in their flight on the wing, at 
other times they sit as above described. 

Another African bird, namely, the Bxiphaga Africana, attends 
the rhinoceros for a similar purpose. It is called " kala" in the 
language of the Bechuanas. When these people wish to express 
their dependence upon another, they address him as "my rhinoc- 
eros," as if they were the birds. The satellites of a chief go by 
the same name. This bird can not be said to depend entirely on 
the insects on that animal, for its hard, hairless skin is a protec- 
tion against all except a few spotted ticks ; but it seems to be at- 
tached to the beast, somewhat as the domestic dog is to man ; 
and while the buffalo is alarmed by the sudden flying up of its 
sentinel, the rhinoceros, not having keen sight, but an acute ear, is 
warned by the cry of its associate, the Bujphaga Africana. The 
rhinoceros feeds by night, and its sentinel is frequently heard in 
the morning uttering its well-known call, as it searches for its 
bulky companion. One species of this bird, observed in Angola, 
possesses a bill of a peculiar scoop or stone forceps form, as if in- 
tended only to tear ofl" insects from the skin ; and its claws are as 
sharp as needles, enabling it to hang on to an animal's ear while 
performing a useful service within it. This sharpness of the claws 
allows the bird to cling to the nearly insensible cuticle without ir- 
ritating the nerves of pain on the true skin, exactly as a burr does 
to the human hand ; but in the case of the JBwphaga Africana 
and erythrorhyncha, other food is partaken of, for we observed 
flocks of them roosting on the reeds, in spots where neither tame 
nor wild animals were to be found. 

The most wary animal in a herd is generally the " leader." 
When it is shot the others often seem at a loss what to do, and 
stop in a state of bewilderment. I have seen them then attempt to 
follow each other and appear quite confused, no one knowing for 



586 LEADERS OF HERDS.— HONEY-GUIDE. 

half a minute or more where to direct the flight. On one occasion 
I happened to shoot the leader, a young zebra mare, which at 
some former time had "been bitten on the hind leg by a carnivo- 
rous animal, and, thereby made unusually wary, had, in conse- 
quence, become a leader. If they see either one of their own herd 
or any other animal taking to flight, wild animals invariably flee. 
The most timid thus naturally leads the rest. It is not any other 
peculiarity, but simply this provision, which is given them for the 
preservation of the race. The great increase of wariness w^hich 
is seen to occur when the females bring forth their young, causes 
all the leaders to be at that time females ; and there is a prob- 
ability that the separation of sexes into distinct herds, which is 
annually observed in many antelopes, arises from the simple fact 
that the greater caution of the she antelopes is partaken of only 
by the young males, and their more frequent flights now have 
the effect of leaving the old males behind. I am inclined to 
believe this, because, though the antelopes, as the pallahs, etc., 
are frequently in separate herds, they are never seen in the 
act of expelling the males. There may be some other reason 
in the case of the elephants ; but the male and female elephants 
are never seen in one herd. The young males remain with 
their dams only until they are full grown ; and so constantly is 
the separation maintained, that any one familiar with them, on 
seeing a picture with the sexes mixed, would immediately con- 
clude that the artist had made it from his imagination, and not 
from sight. 

December 2, 1855. We remained near a small hill, called Ma- 
undo, where we began to be frequently invited by the honeys 
guide [Cuculus indicator). Wishing to ascertain the truth of 
the native assertion that this bird is a deceiver, and by its call 
sometimes leads to a wild beast and not to honey, I inquired if 
any of my men had ever been led by this friendly little bird to 
any thing else than what its name implies. Only one of the 114 
could say he had been led to an elephant instead of a hive, like 
myself with the black rhinoceros mentioned before. I am quite 
convinced that the majority of people who commit themselves to 
its guidance are led to honey, and to it alone. 

On the 3d we crossed the River Mozuma, or Biver of Dila, 
having traveled through a beautifully undulating pastoral country. 



WHITE MOUNTAIN.— THE MOZUMA. 557 

To the south, and a little east of this, stands the hill Taba Cheu, 
or " White Mountain," from a mass of white rock, probably dolo- 
mite, on its top. But none of the hills are of any great altitude. 
When I heard this mountain described at Linyanti I thought the 
glistening substance might be snow, and my informants were so 
loud in their assertions of its exceeding great altitude that I was 
startled with the idea ; but I had quite forgotten that I was speak- 
ing with men who had been accustomed to plains, and knew noth- 
ing of very high mountains. When I inquired what the white 
substance was, they at once replied it was a kind of rock. I ex- 
pected to have come nearer to it, and would have ascended it ; but 
we were led to go to the northeast. Yet I doubt not that the 
native testimony of its being stone is true. The distant ranges 
of hills which line the banks of the Zambesi on the southeast, and 
landscapes which permit the eye to range over twenty or thirty 
miles at a time, with short grass under our feetj were especially 
refreshing sights to those who had traveled for months together 
over the confined views of the flat forest, and among the tangled 
rank herbage of the great valley. 

The Mozuma, or E-iver of Dila, was the first water-course which 
indicated that we were now on the slopes toward the eastern coast. 
It contained no flowing water, but revealed in its banks what 
gave me great pleasure at the time — pieces of lignite, possibly in- 
dicating the existence of a mineral, namely, coal, the want of which 
in the central country I had always deplored. Again and again 
we came to the ruins of large towns, containing the only hiero- 
glyphics of this country, worn mill-stones, with the round ball of 
quartz with which the grinding was efiected. Great numbers of 
these balls were lying about, showing that the depopulation had 
been the result of war ; for, had the people removed in peace, they 
would have taken the balls with them. 

At the River of Dila we saw the spot where Sebituane lived, 
and Sekwebu pointed out the heaps of bones of cattle which 
the Makololo had been obliged to slaughter after performing 
a march with great herds captured from the Batoka through 
a patch of the fatal tsetse. When Sebituane saw the symptoms 
of the poison, he gave orders to his people to eat the cattle. He 
still had vast numbers ; and when the Matebele, crossing the 
Zambesi opposite this part, came to attack him, he invited the 



588 PROPHETIC PHRENSY. 

Batoka to take repossession of their herds, he having so many as 
to be unable to guide them in their flight. The country was at 
that time exceedingly rich in cattle, and, besides pasturage, it is 
all well adapted for the cultivation of native produce. Being on 
the eastern slope of the ridge, it receives more rain than any part 
of the westward. Sekwebu had been instructed to point out to 
me the advantages of this position for a settlement, as that which 
all the Makololo had never ceased to regret. It needed no eulogy 
from Sekwebu ; I admired it myself, and the enjoyment of good 
health in fine open scenery had an exhilarating effect on my 
spirits. The great want was population, the Batoka having all 
taken refuge in the hills. We were now in the vicinity of those 
whom the Makololo deem rebels, and felt some anxiety as to how 
we should be received. 

On the 4th we reached their first village. Remaining at a 
distance of a quarter of a mile, we sent two men to inform them 
who we were, and that our purposes were peaceful. The head man 
came and spoke civilly, but, when nearly dark, the people of an- 
other village arrived and behaved very differently. They began 
by trying to spear a young man who had gone for water. Then 
they approached us, and one came forward howling at the top of 
his voice in the most hideous manner ; his eyes were shot out, his 
lips covered with foam, and every muscle of his frame quivered. 
He came near to me, and, having a small battle-axe in his hand, 
alarmed my men lest he might do violence ; but they were afraid 
to disobey my previous orders, and to follow their own inclination 
by knocking him on the head. I felt a little alarmed too, but 
would not show fear before my own people or strangers, and kept 
a sharp look-out on the little battle-axe. It seemed to me a case 
♦ of ecstasy or prophetic phrensy, voluntarily produced. I felt it 
would be a sorry way to leave the world, to get my head chopped 
by a mad -savage, though that, perhaps, would be preferable to 
hydrophobia or delirium tremens. Sekwebu took a spear in his 
hand, as if to pierce a bit of leather, but in reality to plunge it into 
the man if he offered violence to me. After my courage had been 
suflSciently tested, I beckoned with the head to the civil head man 
to remove him, and he did so by drawing him aside. This man 
pretended not to know what he was doing. I would fain have 
felt his pulse, to ascertain whether the violent trembling were not 



FOOD OF THE ELEPHANT. 539 

feigned, but had not much inclination to go near the battle-axe 
again. There was, however, a flow of perspiration, and the excite- 
ment continued fully half an hour, then gradually ceased. This 
paroxysm is the direct opposite of hypnotism, and it is singular 
that it has not been tried in Europe as well as clairvoyance. 
This second batch of visitors took no pains to conceal their 
contempt for our small party, saying to each other, in a tone of 
triumph, "They are quite a Godsend!" literally, "God has 
apportioned them to us." "They are lost among the tribes!" 
"They have wandered in order to be destroyed, and what can they 
do without shields among so many ?" Some of them asked if 
there were no other parties. Sekeletu had ordered my men not to 
take their shields, as in the case of my first company. We were 
looked upon as unarmed, and an easy prey. We prepared against 
a night attack by discharging and reloading our guns, which were 
exactly the same in number (five) as on the former occasion, as I 
allowed my late companions to retain those which I purchased at 
Loanda. We were not molested, but some of the enemy tried to lead 
us toward the Bashukulompo, who are considered to be the fiercest 
race in this quarter. As we knew our direction to the confluence 
of the Kafue and Zambesi, we declined their guidance, and the 
civil head man of the evening before then came along with us. 
Crowds of natives hovered round us in the forest ; but he ran 
forward and explained, and we were not molested. That night we 
slept by a little village under a low range of hills, which are called 
Chizamena. The country here is more woody than on the high 
lands we had left, but the trees are not in general large. Great 
numbers of them have been broken ofi" by elephants a foot or two 
from the ground: they thus seem pollarded from that point. This 
animal never seriously lessens the number of trees ; indeed, I have 
often been struck by the very little damage he does in a forest. 
His, food consists more of bulbs, tubers, roots, and branches, than 
any thing., else: ; ; Where they have been feeding, great numbers of 
trees, ■ as thick as ;a man's body, are seen twisted down or broken 
off, in order.that they^may feed on the tender shoots at the tops. 
They are said • sometimes to unite in wrenching down large trees. 
The natives in the interior/believe that the elephant never touches 
grass, and I never saw evidence of his having grazed until we came 
near to Tete, and then he had fed on grass in seed only ; this 



590 CLOTHING DESPISED. \ 

seed contains so much farinaceous matter that the natives collect 
it for their own food. 

This part of the country abounds in ant-hills. In the open 
parts they are studded over the surface exactly as haycocks are 
in harvest, or heaps of manure in spring, rather disfiguring the 
landscape. In the woods they are as large as round haystacks, 
40 or 50 feet in diameter at the base, and at least 20 feet high. 
These are more fertile than the rest of the land, and here they are 
the chief garden-ground for maize, pumpkins, and tobacco. 

When we had passed the outskirting villages, which alone con- 
sider themselves in a state of war with the Makololo, we found 
the Batoka, or Batonga, as they here call themselves, quite friend- 
ly. Great numbers of them came from all the surrounding vil- 
lages with presents of maize and masuka, and expressed great joy 
at the first appearance of a white man, and harbinger of peace. 
The women clothe themselves better than the Balonda, but the 
men go m jouris naturalihus. They walk about without the 
smallest sense of shame. They have even lost the tradition of 
the " fig-leaf." I asked a fine, large-bodied old man if he did not 
think it would be better to adopt a little covering. He looked 
with a pitying leer, and laughed with surprise at my thinking him 
at all indecent ; he evidently considered himself above such weak 
superstition. I told them that, on my return, I should have my 
family with me, and no one must come near us in that state. 
" What shall we put on ? we have no clothing." It was consid- 
ered a good joke when I told them that, if they had nothing else, 
they must put on a bunch of grass. 

The farther we advanced, the more we found the country swarm- 
ing with inhabitants. Great numbers came to see the white man, 
a sight they had never beheld before. They always brought pres- 
ents of maize and masuka. Their mode of salutation is quite sin- 
gular. They throw themselves on their backs on the ground, and, 
rolling from side to side, slap the outside of their thighs as expres- 
sions of thankfulness and welcome, uttering the words "Kina 
bomba." This method of salutation was to me very disagreeable, 
and I never could get reconciled to it. I called out, " Stop, stop ; 
I don't want that ;" but they, imagining I was dissatisfied, only 
tumbled about more furiously, and slapped their thighs with great- 
er vigor. The men being totally unclothed, this performance im- 



EFFECTS OF THE GOSPEL. 591 

parted to my mind a painful sense of their extreme degradation. 
My own Batoka were much more degraded than the Barotse, and 
more reckless. We had to keep a strict watch, so as not to he 
involved by their thieving from the inhabitants, in whose country 
and power we were. We had also to watch the use they made 
of their tongues, for some within hearing of the villagers would 
say, " I broke all the pots of that village," or, " I killed a man 
there." They were eager to recount their soldier deeds, when 
they were in company with the Makololo in former times as a 
conquering army. They were thus placing us in danger by 
their remarks. I called them together, and spoke to them about 
their folly, and gave them a pretty plain intimation that I 
meant to insist upon as complete subordination as I had secured 
in my former journey, as being necessary for the safety of the 
party. Happily, it never was needful to resort to any other 
measure for their obedience, as they all believed that I would en- 
force it. 

In connection with the low state of the Batoka, I was led to 
think on the people of Kuruman, who were equally degraded and 
equally depraved. There a man scorned to shed a tear. It would 
have been " tlolo," or transgression. Weeping, such as Dr. Kane 
describes among the Esquimaux, is therefore quite unknown in 
that country. But I have witnessed instances like this : Baba, a 
mighty hunter — the interpreter who accompanied Captain Harris, 
and who was ultimately killed by a rhinoceros — sat listening to 
the Gospel in the church at Kuruman, and the gracious words 
of Christ, made to touch his heart, evidently by the Holy Spirit, 
melted him into tears ; I have seen him and others sink down to 
the ground weeping. When Baba was lying mangled by the fu- 
rious beast which tore him off his horse, he shed no tear, but 
quietly prayed as long as he was conscious. I had no hand in his 
instruction : if these Batoka ever become like him, and they may, 
the influence that effects it must be divine. 

A very large portion of this quarter is covered with masuka- 
trees, and the ground was so strewed with the pleasant fruit that 
my men kept eating it constantly as we marched along. We saw 
a smaller kind of the same tree, named Molondo, the fruit of 
which is about the size of marbles, having a tender skin, and slight 
acidity of taste mingled with its sweetness. Another tree which 



592 THE CAPTIVE RELEASED. 

is said to yield good fruit is named Sombo, but it was not ripe at 
this season. 

December Qth. We passed the night near a series of villages. 
Before we came to a stand under our tree, a man came running 
to us with hands and arms firmly bound with cords behind his 
back, entreating me to release him. When I had dismounted, 
the head man of the village advanced, and I inquired the pris- 
oner's offense. He stated that he had come from the Basliu- 
kulompo as a fugitive, and he had given him a wife and garden 
and a supply of seed ; but, on refusing a 'demand for more, the 
prisoner had threatened to kill him, and had been seen the 
night before skulking about the village, apparently with that 
intention. I declined interceding unless he would confess to 
his father-in-law, and promise amendment. He at first refused 
to promise to abstain from violence, but afterward agreed. The 
father-in-law then said that he would take liim to the village 
and release hira, but the prisoner cried out bitterly, "He will 
kill me there; don't leave me, white man." I ordered a knife, 
and one of the villagers released him on the spot. His arms were 
cut by the cords, and he was quite lame from the blows he had 
received. 

These villagers supplied us abundantly with ground-nuts, 
maize, and corn. All expressed great satisfaction on hearing my 
message, as I directed their attention to Jesus as their Savior, 
whose word is "Peace on earth, and good-will to men." They 
called out, "We are tired of flight ; give us rest and sleep." They 
of course did not understand the full import of the message, but 
it was no wonder that they eagerly seized the idea of peace. 
Their country has been visited by successive scourges during the 
last half century, and they are now "a nation scattered and 
peeled." When Sebituane came, the cattle were innumerable, 
and yet these were the remnants only, left by a chief called Pin- 
gola, who came from the northeast. He swept across the whole 
territory inhabited by his cattle -loving countrymen, devouring 
oxen, cows, and calves, without retaining a single head. He seems 
to have been actuated by a simple love of conquest, and is an in- 
stance of what has occurred two or three times in every century 
in this country, from time immemorial. A man of more energy 
or ambition than his fellows rises up and conquers a large territo- 



MONZE'S VILLAGE. 593 

ly, but as soon as he dies the power he built up is gone, and his 
reign, having been one of terror, is not perpetuated. This, and 
the want of hterature, have prevented the establishment of any 
great empire in the interior of Africa. Pingola effected his con- 
quests by carrying numbers of smith's bellows with him. The 
arrow-heads were heated before shooting into a town, and when a 
wound was inflicted on either man or beast, great confusion en- 
sued. After Pingola came Sebituane, and after him the Matebele 
of Mosilikatse ; and these successive inroads have reduced the Ba- 
toka to a state in which they naturally rejoice at the prospect of 
deliverance and peace. 

We spent Sunday, the 10th, at Monze's village, who is consid- 
ered the chief of all the Batoka we have seen. He lives near the 
hill Kisekise, whence we have a view of at least thirty miles of 
open undulating country, covered with short grass, and having but 
few trees. These open lawns would in any other land, as well 
as this, be termed pastoral, but the people have now no cattle, and 
only a few goats and fowls. They are located all over the coun- 
try in small villages, and cultivate large gardens. They are said 
to have adopted this wide-spread mode of habitation in order to 
give alarm should any enemy appear. In former times they lived 
in large towns. In the distance (southeast) we see ranges of dark 
mountains along the banks of the Zambesi, and are told of the ex- 
istence there of the rapid named Kansala, which is said to impede 
the navigation. The river is reported to be placid above that as 
far as the territory of Sinaraane, a Batoka chief, who is said to 
command it after it emerges smooth again below the falls. Kan- 
sala is the only rapid reported in the river until we come to Ke- 
brabasa, twenty or thirty miles above Tete. On the north we 
have mountains appearing above the horizon, which are said to be 
on the banks of the Kafue. 

The chief Monze came to us on Sunday morning, wrapped in 
a large cloth, and rolled himself about in the dust, screaming 
" Kina boraba," as they all do. The sight of great naked men 
wallowing on the ground, though intended to do me honor, was 
always very painful ; it made me feel thankful that my lot had 
been cast in such different circumstances from that of so many of 
my fellow-men. One of his wives accompanied him ; she would 
have been comely if her teeth had been spared ; she had a little 

P p 



594 FRIENDLY EEELINGS TOWAED EUROPEANS. 

battle-axe in her hand, and helped her husband to scream. She 
was much excited, for she had never seen a white man before. 
We rather liked Monze, for he soon felt at home among us, and 
kept up conversation during much of the day. One head man of 
a village after another arrived, and each of them supplied us 
liberally with maize, ground-nuts, and corn. Monze gave us a goat 
and a fowl, and appeared highly satisfied with a present of some 
handkerchiefs I had got in my supplies left at the island. Being 
of printed cotton, they excited great admiration ; and when I put 
a gaudy-colored one as a shawl about his child, he said that he 
would send for all his people to make a dance about it. In 
telling them that my object was to open up a path whereby they 
might, by getting merchandise for ivory, avoid the guilt of selling 
their children, I asked Monze, with about 150 of his men, if they 
would like a white man to live among them and teach them. 
All expressed high satisfaction at the prospect of the white man 
and his path : they would protect both him and his property. I 
asked the question, because it would be of great importance to 
have stations in this healthy region, whither agents oppressed 
by sickness might retire, and which would serve, moreover, as 
part of a chain of communication between the interior and the 
coast. The answer does not mean much more than what I know, 
by other means, to be the case — that a white man of good 
sense would be welcome and safe in all these parts. By upright- 
ness, and laying himself out for the good of the people, he 
would be known all over the country as a benefactor of the race. 
None desire Christian instruction, for of it they have no idea. 
But the people are now humbled by the scourgings they have 
received, and seem to be in a favorable state for the reception 
of the Gospel. The gradual restoration of their former pros- 
perity in cattle, simultaneously with instruction, would operate 
beneficially upon their minds. The language is a dialect of the 
other negro languages in the great valley ; and as many of 
the Batoka living under the Makololo understand both it and 
the Sichuana, missionaries could soon acquire it through that 
medium. 

Monze had never been visited by any white man, but had seen 
black native traders, who, he said, came for ivory, not for slaves. 
He had heard of white men passing far to the east of him to 



BASHUKULOMPO HAIK-DRESSING. 595 

Cazembe, referring, no doubt, to Pereira, Lacerda, and others, who 
have visited that chief. 

The streams in this part are not perennial ; I did not observe 
one suitable for the purpose of irrigation. There is but little 
wood ; here and there you see large single trees, or small clumps 
of evergreens, but the abundance of maize and ground-nuts we 
met with shows that more rain falls than in the Bechuana coun- 
try, for there they never attempt to raise maize except in damp 
hollows on the banks of rivers. The pasturage is very fine for 
both cattle and sheep. My own men, who know the land thor- 
oughly, declare that it is all garden-ground together, and that the 
more tender grains, which require richer soil than the native corn, 
need no care here. It is seldom stony. 

The men of a village came to our encampment, and, as they 
followed the Bashukulompo mode of dressing their hair, we had 
an opportunity of examining it for the first time. A circle of 
hair at the top of the head, eight inches or more in diameter, is 
woven into a cone eight or ten inches high, with an obtuse apex, 
bent, in some cases, a little forward, giving it somewhat the 
appearance of a helmet. Some have only a cone, four or five 
inches in diameter at the base. It is said that the hair of ani- 
mals is added ; but the sides of the cone are woven something like 
basket-work. The head man of this village, instead of having 
his brought to a point, had it prolonged into a wand, which 
extended a full yard from the crown of his head. The hair on 
the forehead, above the ears, and- behind, is all shaven off, so 
they appear somewhat as if a cap of liberty were cocked upon the 
top of the head. After the weaving is performed it is said to be 
painful, as the scalp is drawn tightly up ; but they become used 
to it. Monze informed me that all his people were formerly 
ornamented in this way, but he discouraged it. I wished him to 
discourage the practice of knocking out the teeth too, but he 
smiled, as if in that case the fashion would be too strong for him, 
as it was for Sebituane. 

Monze came on Monday morning, and, on parting, presented 
us with a piece of a buffalo which had been killed the day be- 
fore by lions. We crossed the rivulet Makoe, which runs west- 
ward into the Kafue, and went northward in order to visit 
Semalembue, an influential chief there. We slept at the village 



596 



GRATITUDE OF THE RELEASED CAPTIVE. 




Bashukulompo Mode of wearing the Hair. 

of Monze's sister, who also passes by the same name. Both he 
and his sister are feminine in their appearance, but disfigured by 
the foolish custom of knocking out the upper front teeth. 

It is not often that jail-birds turn out well, but the first person 
who appeared to welcome us at the village of Monze's sister was 
the prisoner we had released in the way. He came with a 
handsome present of corn and meal, and, after praising our kind- 
ness to the villagers who had assembled around us, asked them, 
" What do you stand gazing at ? Don't you know that they have 



DIP OF KOCKS. 597 

mouths like other people ?" He then set off and brought larse 
bundles of grass and wood for our comfort, and a pot to cook our 
food in. 

December 12th. The morning presented the appearance of a 
continuous rain from the north, the first time we had seen it set 
in from that quarter in such a southern latitude. In the Bechu- 
ana country, continuous rains are always from the northeast or 
east, while in Londa and Angola they are from the north. At 
Pungo Andongo, for instance, the whitewash is all removed from 
the north side of the houses. It cleared up, however, about mid- 
day, and Monze's sister conducted us a mile or two upon the 
road. On parting, she said that she had forwarded orders to a 
distant village to send food to the point where we should sleep. 
In expressing her joy at the prospect of living in peace, she said it 
would be so pleasant " to sleep without dreaming of any one pur- 
suing them with a spear." 

In our front we had ranges of hills called Chamai, covered 
with trees. We crossed the rivulet Nakachinta, flowing west- 
ward into the Kafue, and then passed over ridges of rocks of the 
same mica schist which we found so abundant in Golungo Alto : 
here they were surmouted by reddish porphyry and finely lami- 
nated felspathic grit with trap. The dip, however, of these rocks 
is not toward the centre of the continent, as in Angola, for 
ever since we passed the masses of granite on the Kalomo, 
the rocks, chiefly of mica schist, dip away from them, taking an 
easterly direction. A decided change of dip occurs again when 
we come near the Zambesi, as will be noticed farther on. The 
hills which flank that river now appeared on our right as a high 
dark range, while those near the Kafue have the aspect of a low 
blue range, with openings between. We crossed two never-fail- 
ing rivulets also flowing into the Kafue. The country is very fer- 
tile, but vegetation is nowhere rank. The boiling-point of water 
being 204°, showed that we were not yet as low down as Linyan- 
ti ; but we had left the masuka-trees behind us, and many others 
with which we had become familiar. A feature common to the 
forests of Angola and Benguela, namely, the presence of orchilla- 
weed and lichens on the trees, with mosses on the ground, began 
to appear ; but we never, on any part of the eastern slope, saw 
the abundant crops of ferns which are met with every where in 



598 BIKDS AND EAIN. 

Angola. The orchilla weed and mosses, too, were in but small 
quantities. 

As we passed along, the people continued to supply us with 
food in great abundance. They had by some means or other got 
a knowledge that I carried medicine, and, somewhat to the dis- 
gust of my men, who wished to keep it all to themselves, brought 
their sick children for cure. Some of them I found had hooping- 
cough, which is one of the few epidemics that range through this 
country. 

In passing through the woods I for the first time heard the 
bird called Mokwa reza, or " Son-in-law of God" (Micropogon 
sulphuratus ?), utter its cry, which is supposed by the natives to 
be "pula, pula" (rain, rain). It is said to do this only before 
heavy falls of rain. It may be a cuckoo, for it is said to throw 
out the eggs of the white-backed Senegal crow, and lay its own 
instead. This, combined with the cry for rain, causes the bird to 
be regarded with favor. The crow, on the other hand, has a bad 
repute, and, when rain is withheld, its nest is sought for and de- 
stroyed, in order to dissolve the charm by which it is supposed to 
seal lip the windows of heaven. All the other birds now join in 
full chorus in the mornings, and two of tliem, at least, have fine 
loud notes. 



EFFECT OF RAINS. 599 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Beantifuf Valley.— Buffalo.— My young Men kill two Elephants.- The Hunt.— 
Mode of measuring Height of live Elephants. — Wild Animals smaller here than 
in the South, though their Food is more abundant. — The Elephant a daintv 
Feeder. — Semalembue. — His Presents. — Joy in prospect of living in Peace. — 
Trade. — His People's way of wearing their Hair. — Their Mode of Salutation. — 
Old Encampment.^Sebituane's former Residence. — Ford of Kafue. — Hippopot- 
ami. — Hills and Villages. — Geological Formation. — Prodigious Quantities of 
large Game. — Their Tameness. — Rains. — Less Sickness than in the Journey to 
Loanda. — Reason. — Charge from an Elephant. — Vast Amount of animal Life 

on the Zambesi. — Water of River discolored. An Island with Buffaloes and 

Men on it. — Native Devices for killing Game. — Tsetse now in Country. — Agri- 
cultural Industry. — An Albino murdered by his Mother. — "Guilty of Tlolo." — 
Women who make their Mouths "like those of Ducks." — First Symptom of the 
Slave-trade on this side. — Selole's Hostility. — An armed Party hoaxed. — An 
Italian Marauder slain. — Elephant's Tenacity of Life.^-A Word to young Sports- 
men. — Mr. Oswell's Adventure with an Elephant ; narrow Escape. — Mburuma's 
Village. — Suspicious Conduct of his People. — Guides attempt to detain us. — The 
Village and People of Ma Mburuma. — Character our Guides give of us. 

13t/i. The country is beeoming very beautiful, and furrowed 
by deep valleys ; the underlying rocks, being igneous, have yield- 
ed fertile soil. There is great abundance of large game. The 
buffaloes select open spots, and often eminences, as standing- 
places through the day. We crossed the Mbai, and found in its 
bed rocks of pink marble. Some little hills near it are capped 
by marble of beautiful whiteness, the underlying rock being 
igneous. Violent showers occur frequently on the hills, and 
cause such sudden sweeping floods in these rivulets, that five of 
our men, who had gone to the other side for firewood, were obliged 
to swim back. The temperature of the air is lowered considera- 
bly by the daily rains. Several times the thermometer at sunrise 
has been as low as 68°, and 74° at sunset. Generally, however, 
it stood at from 72° to 74° at sunrise, 90° to 96° at midday, and 
80° to 84° at sunset. The sensation, however, as before remark- 
ed, was not disagreeable. 

14M. We entered a most beautiful valley, abounding in large 



GOO ELEPHANT-HUNTING. 

game. Finding a buffalo lying down, I went to secure him for 
our food. Three halls did not kill him, and, as he turned round 
as if for a charge, we ran for the shelter of some rocks. Before 
we gained them, we found that three elephants, probably attracted 
by the strange noise, had cut off our retreat on that side ; they, 
however, turned short oJff, and allowed us to gain the rocks. We 
then saw that the buffalo was moving off quite briskly, and, in or- 
der not to be entirely balked, I tried a long shot at the last of the 
elephants, and, to the great joy of my people, broke his fore leg. 
The young men soon brought him to a stand, and one shot in the 
brain dispatched him. I was right glad to see the joy manifested 
at such an abundant supply of meat. 

On the following day, while my men were cutting up the el- 
ephant, great numbers of the villagers came to enjoy the feast. 
We were on the side of a fine green valley, studded here and 
there with trees, and cut by numerous rivulets. I had retired 
from the noise, to take an observation among some rocks of 
laminated grit, when I beheld an elephant and her calf at the 
end of the valley, about two miles distant. The calf was rolling 
in the mud, and the dam was standing fanning herself with her 
great ears. As I looked at them through my glass, I saw a long 
string of my own men appearing on the other side of them, 
and Sekwebu came and told me that these had gone off saying, 
"Our father will see to-day what sort of men he has got." 1 
then went higher up the side of the valley, in order to have a dis- 
tinct view of their mode of hunting. The goodly beast, totally 
unconscious of the approach of an enemy, stood for some time 
suckling her young one, which seemed about two years old ; they 
then went into a pit containing mud, and smeared themselves 
all over with it, the little one frisking about his dam, flapping his 
ears and tossing his trunk incessantly, in elephantine fashion. 
She kept flapping her ears and wagging her tail, as if in the height 
of enjoyment. Then began the piping of her enemies, which was 
performed by blowing into a tube, or the hands closed together, 
as boys do into a key. They call out to attract the animal's at- 
tention, 

"O chief! chief! we have come to kill you. 
O chief! chief! many more will die besides you, etc. 
The gods have said it," etc., etc. 



ELEPHANT-HUNTING. g03 

Both animals expanded their ears and listened, then left their 
bath as the crowd rushed toward them. The little one ran for- 
ward toward the end of the valley, hut, seeing the men there, 
returned to his dam. She placed herself on the danger side of 
her calf, and passed her proboscis over it again and again, as if to 
assure it of safety. She frequently looked back to the men, who 
kept up an incessant shouting, singing, and piping ; then looked 
at her young one and ran after it, sometimes sideways, as if her 
feelings were divided between anxiety to protect her offspring and 
desu'e to revenge the temerity of her persecutors. The men kept 
about a hundred yards in her rear, and some that distance from 
her flanks, and continued thus until she was obliged to cross a 
rivulet. The time spent in descending and getting up the op- 
posite bank allowed of their coming up to the edge, and dis- 
charging their spears at about twenty yards distance. After the 
first discharge she appeared with her sides red with blood, and, 
beginning to flee for her own life, seemed to think no more of her 
young. I had previously sent ofi" Sekwebu with orders to spare 
the calf. It ran very fast, but neither young nor old ever enter 
into a gallop ; their quickest pace is only a sharp walk. Before 
Sekwebu could reach them, the calf had taken refuge in the water, 
and was killed. The pace of the dam gradually became slower. 
She turned with a shriek of rage, and made a furious charge back 
among the men. They vanished at right angles to her course, or 
sideways, and, as she ran straight on, she went through the whole 
party, but came near no one except a man who wore a piece of 
cloth on his shoulders. Bright clothing is always dangerous in 
these cases. She charged three or four times, and, except in the 
first instance, never went farther than 100 yards. She often stood 
after she had crossed a rivulet, and faced the men, though she 
received fresh spears. It was by this process of spearing and loss 
of blood that she was killed ; for at last, making a short charge, 
she staggered round and sank down dead in a kneeling posture. 
I did not see the whole hunt, having been tempted away by both 
sun and moon appearing unclouded. I turned from the spec- 
tacle of the destruction of noble animals, which might be made 
so useful in Africa, with a feeling of sickness, and it was not re- 
lieved by the recollection that the ivory was mine, though that 
was the case. I regretted to see them killed, and more especially 



604 MODE OF MEASUEING ELEPHANTS. 

the young one, the meat not being at all necessary at that time ; 
but it is right to add that I did not feel sick when my own blood 
was up the day before. We ought, perhaps, to judge those deeds 
more leniently in which we ourselves have no temptation to 
engage. Had I not been previously guilty of doing the very same 
thing, I might have prided myself on superior humanity when I 
experienced the nausea in viewing my men kill these two. 

The elephant first killed was a male, not full grown ; his height 
at the withers, 8 feet 4 inches ; circumference of the fore foot, 
44 inclies x 2 = 7 feet 4 inches. The female was full grown, and 
measured in height 8 feet 8 inches ; circumference of the fore 
foot, 48 inches x 2 = 8 feet (96 inches). We afterward found that 
full-grown male elephants of this region ranged in height at the 
withers from 9 feet 9 inches to 9 feet 10 inches, and the circum- 
ference of the fore foot to be 4 feet 9 J inches x 2 = 9 feet 7 inches. 
These details are given because the general' rule has been observed 
that twice the circumference of the impression made by the fore 
foot on the ground is the height of the animal. The print on the 
ground, being a little larger than the foot itself, would thus seem 
to be an accurate mode of measuring the size of any elephant that 
has passed ; but the above measurements show that it is applicable 
only to full-grown animals. The greater size of the African ele- 
phant in the south would at once distinguish it from the Indian 
one ; but here they approach more nearly to each other in bulk, 
a female being about as large as a common Indian male. But 
the ear of the African is an external mark which no one will mis- 
take even in a picture. That of the female now killed was 4 feet 
5 inches in depth, and 4 feet in horizontal breadth. I have seen 
a native creep under one so as to be quite covered from the rain. 
The ear of the Indian variety is not more than a third of this size. 
The representation of elephants on ancient coins shows that this 
important characteristic was distinctly recognized of old. Indeed, 
Cuvier remarked that it was better known by Aristotle than by 
BufFon. 

Having been anxious to learn whether the African elephant 
is capable of being tamed, through the kindness of my friend 
Admiral Smythe I am enabled to give the reader conclusive evi- 
dence on this point. In the two medals furnished from his work, 
"A descriptive Catalogue of his Cabinet of Roman and Imperial 



WILD ANIMALS SMALLEST WHERE FOOD ABOUNDS. 605 





J, " 



large brass Medals," the size of the ears will be at once noted as 
those of the true African elephant. They were even more docile 
than the Asiatic, and were taught various feats, as walking on 
ropes, dancing, etc. One of the coins is of Faustina senior, the 
other of Severus the Seventh, and struck A.D. 197. These ele- 
phants were brought from Africa to Eome. The attempt to tame 
this most useful animal has never been made at the Cape, nor has 
one ever been exhibited in England. There is only one very 
young calf of the species in the British Museum, 

The abundance of food in this country, as compared with the 
south, would lead one to suppose that animals here must attain a 
much greater size ; but actual measurement now confirms the 
impression made on yc\j mind by the mere sight of the animals, 
that those in the districts north of 20° were smaller than the 
same races existing southward of that latitude. The first time 
that Mr. Oswell and myself saw full-grown male elephants on 
the River Zouga, they seemed no larger than the females (which 
are always smaller than males) we had met on the Limpopo. 
There they attain a height of upward of 12 feet. At the Zouga 
the height of one I measured was 11 feet 4 inches, and in this 
district 9 feet 10 inches. There is, however, an increase in the 
size of the tusks as we approach the equator. Unfortunately, I 
never made measurements of other animals in the south ; but 
the appearance of the animals themselves in the north at once 
produced the impression on my mind referred to as to their 
decrease in size. When we first saw koodoos, they were so much 
smaller than those we had been accustomed to in the south that 
we doubted whether they were not a new kind of antelope ; and 
the leche, seen nowhere south of 20°, is succeeded by the poku as 
we go north. This is, in fact, only a smaller species of that ante- 



606 ANIMALS SMALLEST WHEEE FOOD MOST ABUNDANT. 

lope, with a more reddish color. A great difference in size pre- 
vails also among domestic animals ; but the influence of locality 
on them is not so well marked. The cattle of the Batoka, for 
instance, are exceedingly small and very beautiful, possessing 
generally great breadth between the eyes and a very playful dis- 
position. They are much smaller than the aboriginal cattle in 
the south ; but it must be added that those of the Barotse valley, 
in the same latitudes as the Batoka, are large. The breed may 
have come from the west, as the cattle within the influence of 
the sea air, as at Little Fish Bay, Benguela, Ambriz, and along 
that coast, are very large. Those found at Lake Ngami, with large 
horns and standing six feet high, probably come from the same 
quarter. The goats are also small, and domestic fowls through- 
out this country are of a very small size, and even dogs, except 
where the inhabitants have had an opportunity of improving the 
breed by importation from the Portuguese. As the Barotse cat- 
tle are an exception to this general rule, so are the Barotse dogs, 
for they are large, savage-looking animals, though in reality very 
cowardly. It is a little remarkable that a decrease in size should 
occur where food is the most abundant ; but tropical climates seem 
unfavorable for the full development of either animals or man. It 
is not from want of care in the breeding, for the natives always 
choose the larger and stronger males for stock, and the same ar- 
rangement prevails in nature, for it is only by overcoming their 
weaker rivals that the wild males obtain possession of the herd. 
Invariably they show the scars received in battle. The elephant 
we killed yesterday had an umbilical hernia as large as a child's 
head, probably caused by the charge of a rival. The cow showed 
scars received from men ; two of the wounds in her side were still 
unhealed, and there was an orifice six inches long, and open, in her 
proboscis, and, as it was about a foot from the point, it must have 
interfered with her power of lifting water. 

In estimating the amount of food necessary for these and other 
large animals, sufficient attention has not been paid to the kinds 
chosen. The elephant, for instance, is a most dainty feeder, and 
particularly .fond of certain sweet-tasted trees and fruits. He 
chooses the mohonono, the mimosa, and other trees which cojR'ain 
much saccharine matter, mucilage, and gum. He may be. seen 
putting his head to a lofty palmyra, and swaying it to and fro to 



»' GEOLOGICAL STKUCTUEE. 607 

shake off the seeds ; he then picks them up singly and eats them. 
Or he may he seen standing by the masuka and other fruit-trees 
patiently picking off the sweet fruits one by one. He also digs 
up bulbs and tubers, but none of these are thoroughly digested. 
Bruce remarked upon the undigested bits of wood seen in their 
droppings, and he must have observed, too, that neither leaves nor 
seeds are changed by passing through the alimentary canal. The 
woody fibre of roots and branches is dropped in the state of tow, 
the nutritious matter alone having been extracted. This capabil- 
ity of removing all the nourishment, and the selection of those 
kinds of food which contain great quantities of mucilage and gum, 
accounts for the fact that herds of elephants produce but small ef- 
fect upon the vfegetation of a country — quality being more requi- 
site than quantity. The amount of internal fat found in them 
makes them much prized by the inhabitants, who are all very fond 
of it, both for food and ointment. 

After leaving the elephant valley we passed through a very beau- 
tiful country, but thinly inhabited by man. The underlying rock 
is trap, and dikes of talcose gneiss. The trap is often seen tilted 
on its edge, or dipping a little either to the north or south. The 
strike is generally to the northeast, the direction we are going. 
About Losito we found the trap had given place to hornblende 
schist, mica schist, and various schorly rocks. We had now come 
into the region in which the appearance of the rocks conveys the 
impression of a great force having acted along the bed of the Zam- 
besi. Indeed, I was led to the belief from seeing the manner in 
which the rocks have been thrust away on both sides from its bed, 
that the power which formed the crack of the falls had given 
direction to the river below, and opened a bed for it all the way 
from the falls to beyond the gorge of Lupata. 

Passing the rivulet Losito, and through the ranges of hills, we 
reached the residence of Semalembue on the 18th. His village 
is situated at the bottom of ranges through which the Kafue 
finds a passage, and close to the bank of that river. The Kafue, 
sometimes called Kahowhe or Bashukulompo River, is upward 
of two hundred yards wide here, and full of hippopotami, the 
young of which may be seen perched on the necks of their 
dams. At this point we had reached about the same level as 
Linyanti. 



■S-^^ 
1i>'. 



608 SEMALEMBUE AND HIS PEOPLE. i: ®^ 

Semalembue paid us a visit soon after our arrival, and said 
that he had often heard of me, and now that he had the pleasure 
of seeing me, he feared that I should sleep the first night at his 
village hungry. This was considered the handsome way of in- 
troducing a present, for he then handed five or six baskets of 
meal and maize, and an enormous one of ground-nuts. Next 
morning he gave me about twenty baskets more of meal. I could 
make but a poor return for his kindness, but he accepted my 
apologies politely, saying that he knew there were no goods in 
the country from which I had come, and, in professing great joy 
at the words of peace I spoke, he said, " Now I shall cultivate 
largely, in the hope of eating and sleeping in peace." It is no- 
ticeable that all whom we have yet met eagerly caught up the 
idea of living in peace as the probable effect of the Gospel. They 
require no explanation of the existence of the Deity. Sekwebu 
makes use of the term " Reza," and they appear to understand at 
once. Like negroes in general, they have a strong tendency to 
worship, and I heard that Semalembue gets a good deal of ivory 
from the surrounding* tribes on pretense of having some supernat- 
ural power. He transmits this to some other chiefs on the Zam- 
besi, and receives in return English cotton goods which come from 
Mozambique by Babisa traders. My men here began to sell their 
beads and other ornaments for cotton cloth. Semalembije was ac- 
companied by about forty people, all large men. They have much 
wool on their heads, which is sometimes drawn all together up to 
the crown, and tied there in a large tapering bunch. The fore- 
head and round by the ears is shaven close to the base of this 
tuft. Others draw out the hair on one side, and twist it into lit- 
tle strings. The rest is taken over, and hangs above the ear, 
which gives the appearance of having a cap cocked jauntily on the 
side of the head. 

The mode of salutation is by clapping the hands. Various 
parties of women came from the surrounding villages to see the 
white man, but all seemed very much afraid. Their fear, which 
I seldom could allay, made them, when addressed, clap their hands 
with increasing vigor. Sekwebu was the only one of the Mako- 
lolo who knew this part of the country ; and this was the region 
which to his mind was best adapted for the residence of a tribe. 
The natives generally have a good idea of the nature of the soil 
and pasturage, and Sekwebu expatiated with great eloquence on 



-f 



'^^J ' THE KAFUE. QQCj 

the capabilities of this part for supplying the wants of the Mako- 
lolo. There is certainly abundance of room at present in the 
country for thousands and thousands more of population. ■ 

We passed near the Losito, a former encampment of the Mate- 
bele, with whom Lekwebu had lived. At the sight of the bones 
of the oxen they had devoured, and the spot where savage dances 
had taken place, though all deserted now, the poor fellow burst 
out into a wild Matebele song. He pointed out also a district, 
about two days and a half west of Semalembue, where Sebituane 
had formerly dwelt. There is a hot fountain on the hills there 
named "Nakalombo," which may be seen at a distance emitting 
steam. " There," said Sekwebu, " had your Molekane (Sebitu- 
ane) been alive, he would have brought you to live with him. You 
would be on the bank of the river, and, by taking canoes, you 
would at once sail down to the Zambesi, and visit the white peo- 
ple at the sea." 

This part is a favorite one with the Makololo, and probably it 
would be a good one in which to form a centre of civilization. 
There is a large, flat district of country to the north, said to be 
peopled by the Bashukulompo and other tribes, who cultivate the 
ground to a great extent, and raise vast quantities of grain, ground- 
nuts, sweet potatoes, etc. They also grow sugar-cane. If they 
were certain of a market, I believe they would not be unwilling 
to cultivate cotton too, but they have not been accustomed to the 
peaceful pursuits of commerce. All are fond of trade, but they 
have been taught none save that in ivory and slaves. 

The Ivafue enters a narrow gorge close by the village of Sema- 
lembue ; as the hill on the north is called Bolengwe, I apply that 
name to the gorge (lat. 15° 48^ 19^^ S., long. 28° 22^ E.). Sema- 
lembue said that he ought to see us over the river, so he accom- 
panied us to a pass about a mile south of his village, and when 
we entered among the hills we found the ford of the Kafue. On 
parting with Semalembue I put on him a shirt, and he went away 
with it apparently much delighted. 

The ford was at least 250 yards broad, but rocky and shallow. 
After crossing it in a canoe, we went along the left bank, and 
were completely shut in by high hills. Every available spot 
between the river and the hills is under cultivation; and the 
residence of the people here is intended to secure safety for 

Q Q 



610 HILLS AKD VILLAGES. 

themselves and their gardens from their enemies ; there is plenty 
of garden-ground outside the hills ; here thej are obliged to make 
pitfalls to protect the grain against the hippopotami. As these 
animals had not been disturbed by guns, they were remarkably 
tame, and took no notice of our passing. We again saw numbers 
of young ones, not much larger than terrier dogs, sitting on the 
necks of their dams, the little saucy-looking heads cocking up be- 
tween the old one's ears ; as they become a little older they sit 
on the withers. Needing meat, we shot a full-grown cow, and 
found, as we had often done before, the flesh to be very much like 
pork. The height of this animal was 4 feet 10 inches, and from 
the point of the nose to the root of the tail 10 feet 6. They seem 
quarrelsome, for both males and females are found covered with 
scars, and young males are often killed by the elder ones : we met 
an instance of this near the falls. 

We came to a great many little villages among the hills, as if 
the inhabitants had reason to hide themselves from the observa- 
tion of their enemies. While detained cutting up the hippopot- 
amus, I ascended a hill called Mabue asula (stones smell badly), 
and, though not the highest in sight, it was certainly not 100 feet 
lower than the most elevated. The boiling-point of water show- 
ed it to be about 900 feet above the river, which was of the 
level of Linyanti. These hills seemed to my men of prodigious 
altitude, for they had been accustomed to ant-hills only. The 
mention of mountains that pierced the clouds made them draw in 
their breath and hold their hands to their mouths. And when I 
told them that their previous description of Taba cheu had led 
me to expect something of the sort, I found that the idea of a 
cloud-capped mountain had never entered into their heads. The 
mountains certainly look high, from having abrupt sides; but 
I had recognized the fact by the point of ebullition of water, 
that they are of a considerably lower altitude than the top of the 
ridge we had left. They constitute, in fact, a sort of low fringe on 
the outside of the eastern ridge, exactly as the (apparently) high 
mountains of Angola (Golungo Alto) form an outer low fringe to 
the western ridge. I was much struck by the similarity of confor- 
mation and nature of the rocks on both sides of the continent ; but 
there is a difference in the structure of the subtending ridges, as 
may be understood by the annexed ideal geological section. 



OUTH CEr 

ORM OF THA 



EAST. 



>f water , they are dri 
at latitudes , the wcs 





Tofacciwijc CJO. 



IDEAL SECTION ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL AFRICA, 

INTENDED TO SHOW THE ELEVATED VALLEY FORM OF THAT PORTION OP THE CONTINENT, 



WEST. 




^ OJi^j- CENTRAL PLATEAU. 



S CAPPED BY FERECGINOUS CONGLOMEKATE. 




1^1 






^^4U\\^n'^iii^"\'^' 



am^tei 




EAST. 



S3 



If 



The heights arc given as an approximation obtained from observing the boiling point of ^Vater , they are drawn on a scale of i*, of an inch per 1000 feet in altitude. 
The section is ncccBsarily exaggerated in longitude, as it was traversed in different latitudes , the western side being in 8'— 12 ', the eastern 15" — 18 ' S. 



'J'ofiice jHij/c Ci\0, 



GEOLOGICAL FORMATION. 611 

We can see from this liill five distinct ranges, of which Bolengo 
is the most westerly, and Komanga is the most easterly. The 
second is named Sekonkamena, and the third Funze. Very many 
conical hills appear among them, and they are generally covered 
with trees. On their tops we have beautiful white quartz rocks, 
and some have a capping of dolomite. On the west of the 
second range we have great masses of kyanite or disthene, and 
on the flanks of the third and fourth a great deal of specular 
iron ore which is magnetic, and rounded pieces of black iron 
ore, also strongly magnetic, and containing a very large per- 
centage of the metal. The sides of these ranges are generally 
very precipitous, and there are rivulets between which are not 
perennial. Many of the hills have been raised by granite, ex- 
actly like that of the Kalomp. Dikes of this granite may be 
seen thrusting up immense masses of mica schist and quartz 
or sandstone schist, and making the strata fold over them on 
each side, as clothes hung upon a line. The uppermost stratum 
is always dolomite or bright white quartz. Semalembue intend- 
ed that we should go' a little to the northeast, and pass through 
the people called Babimpe, and we saw some of that people, who 
invited us to come that way on account of its being smoother ; bu-f, 
feeling anxious to get back "to the Zambesi again, we decided to 
cross the hills toward its confluence with the Kafue. The dis- 
tance, which in a straight line is but small, occupied three days. 
The precipitous nature of the sides of this mass of hills knocked 
up the oxen and forced us to slaughter two, one of which, a very 
large one, and ornamented with upward of thirty pieces of its own 
skin detached and hanging down, Sekeletu had wished us to take 
to the white people as a specimen of his cattle. We saw many 
elephants among the hills, and my men ran ofl" and killed three. 
When we came to the top of the outer range of the hills we had 
a glorious view. At a short distance below us we saw the Kafue, 
wending away over a forest-clad plain to the confluence, and on 
the other side of the Zambesi, beyond that, lay a long range of 
dark hills. A line of fleecy clouds appeared lying along the course 
of that river at their base. The plain below us, at the left of ■ 
the Kafue, had more large game on it than any where else I had 
seen in Africa. Hundreds of buflaloes and zebras grazed on the 
open spaces, and there stood lordly elephants feeding majestically. 



612 



THE TSETSE. 



nothing moving apparently Ibut the proboscis. I wished that I 
had been able to take a photograph of a scene so seldom beheld, 
and which is destined, as guns increase, to pass away from earth. 
When we descended we found all the animals remarkably tame. 
The elephants stood beneath the trees, fanning themselves with 
their large ears, as if they did not see us at 200 or 300 yards dis- 
tance. The number of animals was quite astonishing, and made 
me think that here I could realize an image of that time when 
Megatheria fed undisturbed in the primeval forests. We saw 
great numbers of red-colored pigs {Potamochoerus) standing 
gazing at us in wonder. The people live on the hills, and, 
having no guns, seldom disturb the game. They have never 
been visited, even by half-castes ; but Babisa traders have come 
occasionally. Continuous rains kept us for some time on the 
banks of the Chiponga, and here we were unfortunate enough to 
come among the tsetse. Mr. J. N. Gray, of the British Museum, 
has kindly obliged me with a drawing of the insect, with the rav- 
ages of which I have unfortunately been too familiar. (For de- 
scription, see p. 94-96.) No. 1 is the insect somewhat smaller 




W^ 



1. The Taetae. 2. The eams magnified. 3. The Proboscis. 

than life, from the specimen having contracted in drying; they 
are a little larger than the common house-fly. No. 2 is the 



IMPROVED HEALTH : THE EEASON. 613 

insect magnified ; and No. 3 shows the magnified proboscis and 
poison-bulb at the root. 

We tried to leave one morning, but the rain coming on afresh 
brought us to a stand, and after waiting an hour, wet to the 
skin, we were fain to retrace our steps to our sheds. These 
rains were from the east, and the clouds might be seen on the 
hills exactly as the "Table-cloth" on Table Mountain. This 
was the first wetting we had got since we left Sesheke, for I had 
gained some experience in traveling. In Londa we braved the 
rain, and, as I despised being carried in our frequent passage 
through running water, I was pretty constantly drenched; but 
now, when we saw a storm coming, we invariably halted. The 
men soon pulled grass sufficient to make a little shelter for them- 
selves by placing it on a bush, and, having got mj camp-stool and 
umbrella, with a little grass under my feet, I kept myself perfect- 
ly dry. We also lighted large fires, and the men were not chilled 
by streams of water running down their persons, and abstracting 
the heat, as they would have been had they been exposed to the 
rain. When it was over they warmed themselves by the fires, 
and we traveled on comfortably. The efi'ect of this care was, that 
we had much less sickness than with a smaller party in journey- 
ing to Loanda. Another improvement made from my experience 
was avoiding an entire change of diet. In going to Loanda I took 
little or no European food, in order not to burden my men and 
make them lose spirit, but trusted entirely to what might be got 
by the gun and the liberality of the Balonda ; but on this journey 
I took some flour which had been left in the wagon, with some 
got on the island, and baked my own bread all the way in an ex- 
temporaneous oven made by an inverted pot. With these pre- 
cautions, aided, no doubt, by the greater healthiness of the dis- 
trict over which we passed, I enjoyed perfect health. 

When we left the Chipongo on the 30th we passed among the 
range of hills on our left, which are composed of mica and 
clay slate. At the bottom we found a forest of large silicified 
trees, all lying as if the elevation of the range had made them 
fall away from it, and toward the river. An ordinary-sized tree 
standing on end, measured 22 inches in diameter: there were 
12 laminte to the inch. These are easily counted, because there 
is usually a scale of pure silica between each, which has not been 



614 CHARGE OF AN ELEPHANT. 

SO much, affected "by the weather as the rest of the ring itself: 
the edges of the rings thus stand out plainly. Mr. Quekett, hav- 
ing kindly examined some specimens, finds that it is " silicified 
coniferous wood of the Aeaucaeian type ; and the nearest allied 
wood that he knows of is that found, also in a fossil state, in 
New South Wales." The numbers of large game were quite 
astonishing. I never saw elephants so tame as those near the 
Chiponga : they stood- close to our path without being the least 
afraid. This is different from their conduct where they have 
been accustomed to guns, for there they take alarm at the dis- 
tance of a mile, and begin to run if a shot is fired even at a 
longer distance. My men killed another here, and rewarded the 
villagers of the Chiponga for their liberality in meal by loading 
them with flesh. "We spent a night at a baobab, which was hol- 
low, and would hold twenty men inside. It had been used as a 
lodging-house by the Babisa. 

As we approached nearer the Zambesi, the country became 
covered with broad-leaved bushes, pretty thickly planted, and we 
had several times to shout to elephants to get out of our way. 
At an open space, a herd of buffaloes came trotting up to look at 
our oxen, and it was only by shooting one that I made them 
retreat. The meat is very much like that of an ox, and this one 
was very fine. The only danger we actually encountered was 
from a female elephant, with three young ones of different sizes. 
Charging through the centre of our extended line, and causing 
the men to throw down their burdens in a great hurry, she 
received a spear for her temerity. I never saw an elephant with 
more than one calf before. We knew that we were near our 
Zambesi again, even before the great river burst upon our sight, 
by the numbers of water-fowl we met. I killed four geese with 
two shots, and, had I followed the wishes of my men, could 
have secured a meal of water-fowl for the whole party. I never 
saw a river with so much animal life around and in it, and, as the 
Barotse say, "Its fish and fowl are always fat." Wlien our eyes 
were gladdened by a view of its goodly broad waters, we found it 
very much larger than it is even above the falls. One might try 
to make his voice heard across it in vain. Its flow was more rapid 
than near Sesheke, being often four and a half miles an hour, and, 
what I never saw before, the water was discolored and of a deep 



THE ZAMBESI.— ISLAND OF MEN YE. 615 

"brownish-red. In the great valley the Leeamlbye never becomes 
of this color. The adjacent country, so far north as is known, is 
all level, and the soil, being generally covered with dense herbage, 
is not abraded ; but on the eastern ridge the case is different ; 
the grass is short, and, the elevation being great, the soil is wash- 
ed down by the streams, and hence the discoloration which we now 
view. The same thing was observed on the western ridge. We 
never saw discoloration till we reached the Quango ; that ob- 
tained its matter from the western slope of the western ridge, 
just as this part of the Zambesi receives its soil from the eastern 
slope of the eastern ridge. It carried a considerable quantity of 
wreck of reeds, sticks, and trees. We struck upon the river 
about eight miles east of the confluence with the Kafue, and 
thereby missed a sight of that interesting point. The cloudiness 
of the weather was such that but few observations could be made 
for determining our position ; so, pursuing our course, we went 
down the left bank, and came opposite the island of Menye mak- 
aba. The Zambesi contains numerous islands ; this was about a 
mile and a half or two miles long, and upward of a quarter of 
a mile broad. Besides human population, it has a herd of buffa- 
loes that never leave it. In the distance they seemed to be 
upward of sixty. The human and brute inhabitants understand 
each other ; for when the former think they ought to avenge the 
liberties committed on their gardens, the leaders of the latter 
come out boldly to give battle. They told us that the only time 
in which they can thin them is when the river is full and part of 
the island flooded. They then attack them from their canoes. 
The comparatively small space to which they have confined 
themselves shows how luxuriant the vegetation of this region is ; 
for were they in want of more pasture, as buffaloes can swim well, 
and the distance from this bank to the island is not much more 
than 200 yards, they might easily remove hither. The opposite 
bank is much more distant. 

Eanges of hills appear now to run parallel with the Zambesi, 
and are about fifteen miles apart. Those on the north approach 
nearest to the river. The inhabitants on that side are the 
Batonga, those on the south bank are the Banyai. The hills 
abound in buffaloes, and elephants are numerous, and many are 
killed by the people on both banks. They erect stages on 



QIQ DEVICES EOR KILLING GAME. 

liigh trees overlianging the paths by which the elephants come, and 
then use a large spear with a handle nearly as thick as a man's 
wrist, and four or five feet long. When the animal comes beneath 
they throw the spear, and if it enters between the ribs above, as 
the blade is at least twenty inches long by two broad, the motion 
of the handle, as it is aided by knocking against the trees, makes 
frightful gashes within, and soon causes death. They kill them 
also by means of a spear inserted in a beam of wood, which being 
suspended on the branch of a tree by a cord attached to a latch 
fastened in the path, and intended to be struck by the animal's 
foot, leads to the fall of the beam, and, the spear being poisoned, 
causes death in a few hours. 

We were detained by continuous rains several days at this 
island. The clouds rested upon the tops of the hills as they came 
from the eastward, and then poured down plenteous shower^ on 
the valleys below. As soon as we could move, Tomba Nyama, 
the head man of the island, volunteered the loan of a canoe to 
cross a small river, called the Chongwe, which we found to be 
about fifty or sixty yards broad and flooded. All this part of the 
country was well known to Sekwebu, and he informed us that, 
when he passed through it as a boy, the inhabitants possessed 
abundance of cattle, and there were no tsetse. The existence of 
the insect now shows that it may return in company with the 
larger game. The vegetation along the bank was exceedingly 
rank, and the bushes so tangled that it was difficult to get on. 
The paths had been made by the wild animals alone, for the gen- 
eral pathway of the people is the river, in their canoes. We usually 
followed the footpaths of the game, and of these there was no lack. 
Buffaloes, zebras, pallahs, and waterbucks abound, and there is also 
a great abundance of wild pigs, koodoos, and the black antelope. 
We got one buifalo as he was rolling himself in a pool of mud. 
He had a large piece of skin torn off" his flank, it was believed by 
an alligator. 

We were struck by the fact that, as soon as we came between 
the ranges of hills which flank the Zambesi, the rains felt warm. 
At sunrise the thermometer stood at from 82° to 86°; at midday, 
in the coolest shade, namely, in my Jittle tent, under a shady tree, 
at 96° to 98° ; and at sunset it was 86°. This is different from any 
thing we experienced in the interior, for these rains always bring 



AN ALBINO MUEDERED BY HIS MOTHER. 61 7 

down tlie mercmy to 72° or even 68°. There, too, we found a 
small black coleopterous insect, which stung like the musquito, 
but injected less poison ; it puts us in mind of that insect, which 
does not exist in the high lands we had left. 

January 6tA, 1856. Each village we passed furnished us with 
a couple of men to take us on to the next. They were useful in 
showing us the parts least covered with jungle. When we came 
near a village, we saw men, women, and children employed in 
weeding their gardens, they being great agriculturists. Most of 
the men are muscular, and have large plowman hands. Their 
color is the same admixture, from very dark to light olive, that 
we saw in Londa. Though all have thick lips and flat noses, 
only the more degraded of the population possess the ugly negro 
physiognomy. They mark themselves by a line of little raised 
cicatrices, each of which is a quarter of an inch long ; they ex- 
tend from the tip of the nose to the root of the hair on the 
forehead. It is remarkable that I never met with an Albino in 
crossing Africa, though, from accounts published by the Portu- 
guese, I was led to expect that they were held in favor as doc- 
tors by certain chiefs. I saw several in the south : one at Kuru- 
man is a full-grown woman, and a man having this peculiarity 
of skin was met with in the colony. Their bodies are always 
blistered on exposure to the sun, as the skin is more tender than 
that of the blacks. The Kuruman woman lived some time at 
Kolobeng, and generally had on her bosom and shoulders the 
remains of large blisters. She was most anxious to be made 
black, but nitrate of silver, taken internally, did not produce its 
usual effect. During the time I resided at Mabotsa, a woman 
came to the station with a fine boy, an Albino. The father had 
ordered her to throw him away, but she clung to her offspring for 
many years. He was remarkably intelligent for his age. The 
pupil of the eye was of a pink color, and the eye itself was un- 
steady in vision. The hair, or rather wool, was yellow, and the 
features were those common among the Bechuanas. After I left 
the place the mother is said to have become tired of living apart 
from the father, who refused to have her while she retained the 
son. She took him out one day, and killed him close to the vil- 
lage of Mabotsa, and nothing was done to her by the authorities. 
From having met with no Albinos in Londa, I suspect they are 



618 " TLOLO."— IDEA OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 

there also put to death. We saw one dwarf onlj in Londa, and 
brands on him showed he had once been a slave ; and there is 
one dwarf woman at Linyanti. The general absence of deformed 
persons is partly owing to their destruction in infancy, and partly 
to the mode of life being a natural one, so far as ventilation 
and food are concerned. They use but few unwholesome mix- 
tures as condiments, and, though their undress exposes them to 
the vicissitudes of the temperature, it does not harbor vomites. 
It was observed that, when smallpox and measles visited the coun- 
try, they were most severe on the half-castes who were clothed. 
In several tribes, a child which is said to " tlola," transgress, 
is put to death. "Tlolo," or transgression, is ascribed to sev- 
eral curious cases. A child who cut the upper front teeth be- 
fore the under was always put to death among the Bakaa, and, 
I believe, also among the Bakwains. In some tribes, a case of 
twins renders one of them liable to death ; and an ox, which, 
while lying in the pen, beats the ground with its tail, is treated 
in the same way. It is thought to be calling death to visit the 
tribe. When I was coming through Londa, my men carried a 
great number of fowls, of a larger breed than any they had at 
home. If one crowed before midnight, it had been guilty of " tlo- 
lo," and was killed. The men often carried them sitting on their 
guns, and, if one began to crow in a forest, the owner would give 
it a beating, by way of teaching it not to be guilty of crowing at 
unseasonable hours. 

The women here are in the habit of piercing the upper lip, and 
gradually enlarging the orifice until they can insert a shell. ' The 
lip then appears drawn out beyond the perpendicular of the nose, 
and gives them a most ungainly aspect. Sekwebu remarked, 
" These women want to make their mouths like those of ducks ;" 
and, indeed, it does appear as if they had the idea that female 
beauty of lip had been attained by the Ornithorhynchus paradox- 
us alone. This custom prevails throughout the country of the 
Maravi, and no one could see it without confessing that fashion 
had never led women to a freak more mad. We had rains now 
every day, and considerable cloudiness, but the sun often burst 
through with scorching intensity. All call out against it then, 
saying, " O the sun! that is rain again." It was worth noticing 
that n\j companions never complained of the heat while on the 



SELOLE'S HOSTILITY. 619 

highlands, but when we descended into the lowlands of Angola, 
and here also, they began to fret on account of it. I myself felt 
an oppressive steaminess in the atmosphere which I had not ex- 
perienced on the higher lands. 

As the game was abundant and my party very large, I had 
still to supply their Avants with the gun. We slaughtered the 
oxen only when unsuccessful in hunting. We always entered 
into friendly relations with the head men of the different villages, 
and they presented grain and other food freely. One man gave a 
basinful of rice, the first we met with in the country. It is never 
seen in the interior. He said he knew it was " white man's 
corn," and when I wished to buy some more, he asked me to give 
him a slave. This was the first symptom of the slave-trade on 
this side of the country. The last of these friendly head men 
was named Mobala ; and having passed him in peace, we had no 
anticipation of any thing else ; but, after a few hours, we reached 
Selole or Chilole, and found that he not only considered us ene- 
mies, but had actually sent an express to raise the tribe of Mbu- 
rtima against us. All the women of Selole had fled, and the few 
people we met exhibited symptoms of terror. An armed party 
had come from Mburuma in obedience to the call ; but the head 
man of the company, being Mburuma's brother, suspecting that 
it was a hoax, came to our encampment and told us the whole. 
When we explained our objects, he told us that Mburuma, he had 
no doubt, would receive us well. The reason why Selole acted 
in this foolish manner we afterward found to be this : an Italian 
named Simoens, and nicknamed Siriatoraba (don't eat tobacco), 
had married the daughter of a chief called Sekokole, living north 
of Tete. He armed a party of fifty slaves with guns, and, as- 
cending the river in canoes some distance beyond the island Meya 
makaba, attacked several inhabited islands beyond, securing a 
large number of prisoners, and much ivory. On his return, the 
different chiefs, at the instigation of his father-in-law, who also did 
not wish him to set up as a chief, united, attacked and dispersed 
the party of Simoens, and killed him while trying to escape on 
foot. Selole imagined that I was another Italian, or, as he express- 
ed it," Siriatomba risen from the dead." In his message to Mbu- 
ruma he even sajd that Mobala, and all the villages beyond, were 
utterly destroyed by our fire-arms, but the sight of Mobala him- 



620 ELEPHANTS' TENACITY OF LIFE. 

self, who had come to the village of Selole, led the "brother of 
Mhuruma to see at once that it was all a hoax. But for this, the 
foolish fellow Selole might have given us trouble. 

We saw many of the liberated captives of this Italian among 
the villages here, and Sekwebu found them to be Matebele. The 
brother of Mburuma had a gun, which was the first we had seen 
in coming eastward. Before we reached Mburuma my men went 
to attack a troop of elephants, as they were much in need of meat. 
When the troop began to run, one of them fell into a hole, and 
before he could extricate himself an opportunity was afforded for 
all the men to throw their spears. When he rose he was like a 
huge porcupine, for each of the seventy or eighty men had dis- 
charged more than one spear at him. As they had no more, 
they sent for me to finish him. In order to put him at once out 
of pain, I went to within twenty yards, there being a bank be- 
tween us which he could not readily climb. I rested the gun 
upon an ant-iiill so as to take a steady aim ; but, though I fired 
twelve two-ounce bullets, all I had, into different parts, I could 
not kill him. As it was becoming dark, I advised my men to 
let him stand, being sure of finding him dead in the morning ; 
but, though we searched all the next day, and went more than 
ten miles, we never saw him again. I mention this to young 
men who may think that they will be able to hunt elephants on 
foot by adopting the Ceylon practice of killing them by one ball 
in the brain. I believe that in Africa the practice of standing be- 
fore an elephant, expecting to kill him with one shot, would be 
certain death to the hunter ; and I would add, for the information 
of those who may think that, because I met with a great abun- 
dance of game here, they also might find rare sport, that the 
tsetse exists all along both banks of the Zambesi, and there can 
be no hunting by means of horses. Hunting on foot in this cli- 
mate is such excessively hard work, that I feel certain the keenest 
sportsman would very soon turn away from it in disgust. I my- 
self was rather glad, when furnished with the excuse that I had 
no longer any balls, to hand over all the hunting to my men, who 
had no more love for the sport than myself, as they never engaged 
in it except when forced by hunger. 

Some of them gave me a hint to melt down my plate by asking 
if it were not lead. I had two pewter plates and a piece of zinc 



ME. OSWELL'S NARROW ESCAPE. 621 

which I now melted into bullets. I also spent the remainder of 
my handkerchiefs ill buying spears for them. My men frequently 
surrounded herds of buffaloes and killed numbers of the calves. 
I, too, exerted myself greatly ; but, as I am now obliged to shoot 
with the left arm, I am a bad shot, and this, with the lightness of 
the bullets, made me very unsuccessful. The more the hunger, 
the less my success, invariably. 

I may here add an adventure with an elephant of one who has 
had more narrow escapes than any man living, but whose modesty 
has always prevented him from publishing any thing about him- 
self. When we were on the banks of the Zouga in 1850, Mr. Os- 
well pursued one of these animals into the dense, thick, thorny 
bushes met with on the margin of that river, and to which the el- 
ephant usually flees for safety. He followed through a narrow 
pathway by lifting up some of the branches and forcing his way 
through the rest ; but, when he had just got over this difficulty, 
he saw the elephant, whose tail he had but got glimpses of. before, 
now rushing toward him. There was then no time to lift up 
branches, so he tried to force the horse through them. He could 
not effect a passage ; and, as there was but an instant between 
the attempt and failure, the hunter tried to dismount, but in do- 
ing this one foot was caught by a branch, and the spur drawn 
along the animal's flank ; this made him spring away and throw 
the rider on the ground with his face to the elephant, which, being 
in full chase, still went on. Mr. Oswell saw the huge fore foot 
about to descend on his legs, parted them, and drew in his breath 
as if to resist the pressure of the other foot, which he expected 
would next descend on his body. He saw the whole length of 
the under part of the enormous brute pass over him ; the horse 
got away safely. I have heard of but one other authentic instance 
in which an elephant went over a man without injury, and, for 
any one who knows the nature of the bush in which this occurred, 
the very thought of an encounter in it with such a foe is appall- 
ing. As the thorns are placed in pairs on opposite sides of the 
branches, and these turn round on being pressed against, one pair 
brings the other exactly into the position in which it must pierce 
the intruder. They cut like knives. Horses dread this bush ex- 
tremely ; indeed, most of them refuse to face its thorns. 

On reaching Mburuma's village, his brother came to meet us. 



622 MBURUMA'S VILLAGE AND PEOPLE. 

We explained the reason of our delay, and he told us that we 
were looked upon with alarm. He said that Siriatomba had been 
killed near the village of Selole, and hence that man's fears. He 
added that the Italian had come talking of peace, as we did, but 
had kidnapped children and bought ivory with them, and that we 
were supposed to be following the same calling. I pointed to my 
men, and asked if any of these were slaves, and if we had any 
children among them, and I think we satisfied him that we were 
true men. Referring to our ill success in hunting the day before, 
he said, "The man at whose village you remained was in fault in 
allowing you to want meat, for he had only to run across to Mbu- 
ruma ; he would have given him a little meal, and, having sprin- 
kled that on the ground as an offering to the gods, you would have 
found your elephant." The chiefs in these parts take upon them- 
selves an office somewhat like the priesthood, and the people im- 
agine that they can propitiate the Deity through them. In illus- 
tration of their ideas, it may be mentioned that, when we were 
among the tribes west of Semalembue, several of the people came 
forward and introduced themselves — one as a hunter of elephants, 
another as a hunter of hippopotami, a third as a digger of pitfalls 
— apparently wishing me to give them medicine for success in 
their avocations, as well as to cure the diseases of those to whom 
I was administering the drugs. I thought they attributed super- 
natural power to them, for, like all Africans, they have unbounded 
faith in the efl&cacy of charms ; but I took pains to let them know 
that they must pray and trust to another power than mine for aid. 
We never saw Mburuma himself, and the conduct of his people 
indicated very strong suspicions, though he gave us presents of 
meal, maize, and native corn. His people never came near us ex- 
cept in large bodies and fully armed. We had to order them to 
place their bows, arrows, and spears at a distance before entering 
our encampment. We did not, however, care much for a little 
trouble now, as we hoped that, if we could pass this time without 
much molestation, we might yet be able to return with ease, and 
without meeting sour, suspicious looks. 

The soil, glancing every where with mica, is very fertile, and all 
the valleys are cultivated, the maize being now in ear and eatable. 
Ranges of hills, which line both banks of the river above this, 
now come close up to each bank, and form a naiTow gorge, which. 



MA MBUEUMA'S VILLAGE AND PEOPLE. 623 

like all others of tlie same nature, is called Mpata. There is a 
narrow pathway bj the side of the river, but we preferred a more 
open one in a pass among the hills to the east, which is called Mo- 
liango. The hills rise to a height of 800 or 1000 feet, and are all 
covered with trees. The rocks were of various colored mica 
schist ; and parallel with the Zambesi lay a broad band of gneiss 
with garnets in it. It stood on edge, and several dikes of basalt, 
with dolerite, had cut through it. 

Mburuma sent two men as guides to the Loangwa. These men 
tried to bring us to a stand, at a distance of about six miles from 
the village, by the notice, " Mburuma says you are to sleep under 
that tree." On declining to do this, we were told that we must 
wait at a certain village for a supply of corn. As none appeared 
in an hour, I proceeded on the march. It is not quite certain 
that their intentions were hostile, but this seemed to disarrange 
their plans, and one of them was soon observed running back to 
Mburuma. They had first of all tried to separate our party by 
volunteering the loan of a canoe to convey Sekwebu and me, to- 
gether with our luggage, by way of the river, and, as it was pressed 
upon us, I thought that this was their design. The next attempt 
was to detain us in the pass ; but, betraying no suspicion, we civil- 
ly declined to place ourselves in their power in an unfavorable po- 
sition. We afterward heard that a party of Babisa traders, who 
came from the northeast, bringing English goods from Mozam- 
bique, had been plundered by this same people. 

Elephants were still abundant, but more wild, as they fled with 
great speed as soon as we made our appearance. The country 
between Mbururaa's and his mother's village was all hilly and 
very difficult, and prevented us from traveling more than ten 
miles a day. At the village of Ma Mburuma (mother of Mbu- 
ruma), the guides, who had again joined us, gave a favorable 
report, and the women and children did not flee. Here we found 
that traders, called Bazunga, have been in the habit of coming in 
canoes, and that I was named as one of them. These I supposed 
to be half-caste Portuguese, for they said that the hair of their 
heads and the skin beneath their clothing were different from 
mine. Ma Mburuma promised us canoes to cross the Loangwa 
in our front. It was pleasant to see great numbers of men, 
women, and boys come, without suspicion, to look at the books, 



624 OPINIONS OF THE GUIDES. 

watch, looking-glass, revolver, etc. They are a strong, muscular 
race, and both men and women are seen cultivating the ground. 
The soil contains so much comminuted talc and mica from the 
adjacent hills that it seems as if mixed with spermaceti. They 
generally eat their corn only after it has hegun to sprout from 
steeping it in water. The deformed lips of the women make them 
look very ugly ; I never saw one smile. The people in this part 
seem to understand readily what is spoken about God, for they 
listen with great attention, and tell in return their own ideas of 
departed spirits. The position of the village of Mburuma's mother 
was one of great beauty, quite inclosed by high, steep hills ; and 
the valleys are all occupied by gardens of native corn and maize, 
which grow luxuriantly. We were obliged to hurry along, for 
the oxen were bitten daily by the tsetse, which, as I have before 
remarked, now inhabits extensive tracts which once supported 
herds of cattle that were swept off by Mpakane and other 
marauders, whose devastations were well known to Sekwebu, for 
he himself had been an actor in the scenes. When he told me 
of them he always lowered his voice, in order that the guides 
might not hear that he had been one of their enemies. But that 
we were looked upon with suspicion, on account of having come 
in the footsteps of invaders, was evident from our guides remark- 
ing to men in the gardens through which we passed, " They have 
words of peace — all very fine ; but lies only, as the Bazunga are 
great liars." They thought we did not understand them ; but 
Sekwebu knew every word perfectly ; and, without paying any 
ostensible attention to these complimentary remarks, we always 
took care to explain ever afterward that we were not Bazunga, 
but Makoa (English). 



HOSTILE APPEARANCES. 625 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Confluence of Loangwa and Zambesi. — Hostile Appearances. — Euins of a Church. — 
Turmoil of Spirit. — Cross the River. — Friendly Parting. — Ruins of stone Houses. 
— The Situation of Zumbo for Commerce. — Pleasant Gardens. — Dr. Lacerda's 
Visit to Cazembe. — Pereira's Statement. — Unsuccessful Attempt to establish Trade 
with the People of Cazembe. — One of my Men tossed by a Buffalo. — Meet a Man 
with Jacket and Hat on. — Hear of the Portuguese and native War. — Holms and 
Terraces on the Banks of a River. — Dancing for Corn. — Beautiful Country. — 
Mpende's Hostility. — Incantations. — A Fight anticipated. — Courage and Re- 
marks of my Men. — Visit from two old Councilors of Mpende. — Their Opinion 
of the English. — Mpende concludes not to fight us. — His subsequent Friendship. — 
Aids us to cross the River. — The Country. — Sweet Potatoes. — Bakwain Theory of 
Rain confirmed. — Thunder without Clouds. — Desertion of one of my Men. — Other 
Natives' Ideas of the English. — Dalama (gold). — ^Inhabitants dislike Slave-buyers. — 
Meet native Traders with American Calico. — Game-laws. — Elephant Medicine. — 
Salt from the Sand. — Fertility of Soil. — Spotted Hyaena. — Liberality and Polite- 
ness of the People. — Presents. — A stingy white Trader. — Natives' Remarks about 
him. — Effect on their Minds. — Rain and Wind now from an opposite Direction. — 
Scarcity of Fuel. — Trees for Boat-building. — Boroma. —Freshets. — Leave the 
River. — Chicova, its Geological Features. — Small Rapid near Tete. — Loquacious 
Guide. — Nyampungo, the Rain-charmer. — An old Man.— No Silver,— Gold- 
washing. — No Cattle. 

14tA. We reached the confluence of the Loangwa and the 
Zambesi, most thankful to God for his great mercies in helping 
us thus far. Mburuma's people had behaved so suspiciously, that, 
though we had guides from him, we were by no means sure that 
we should not be attacked in crossing the Loangwa. We saw 
them here collecting in large numbers, and, though professing 
friendship, they kept at a distance from our camp. They refused 
to lend us more canoes than two, though they have many. They 
have no intercourse with Europeans except through the Babisa. 
They tell us that this was formerly the residence of the Bazunga, 
and maintain silence as to the cause of their leaving it. I walked 
about some ruins I discovered, built of stone, and found the 
remains of a church, and on one side lay a broken bell, with 
the letters I. H. S. and a cross, but no date. There were no 

Rr 



626 CROSSING THE LOANGWA. 

inscriptions on stone, and the people could not tell what the Ba- 
zunga called their place. We found afterward it was Zumbo. 

I felt some turmoil of spirit in the evening at the prospect of 
having all my eflforts for the welfare of this great region and its 
teeming population knocked on the head by savages to-morrow, 
who might be said to " know not what they do." It seemed such 
a pity that the important fact of the existence of the two healthy 
ridges which I had discovered should not become known in Chris- 
tendom, for a confirmation would thereby have been given to the 
idea that Africa is not open to the Gospel. But I read that Jesus 
said, " All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth ; go ye, 

therefore, and teach all nations and lo, I am with you al- 

way, even unto the end of the world.'''' I took this as His word 
of honor, and then went out to take observations for latitude and 
longitude, which, I think, were very successful. (The church : lat. 
15° 37' Tl" S., long. 30° 32' E.) 

\hth. The natives of the surrounding country collected around 
us this morning, all armed. The women and children were sent 
away, and one of Mburuma's wives, who lives in the vicinity, was 
not allowed to approach, though ^he had come from her village to 
pay me a visit. Only one canoe was lent to us, though we saw 
two others tied to the bank. The part we crossed was about a 
mile from the confluence, and, as it was now flooded, it seemed 
upward of half a mile in breadth. We passed all our goods first 
on to an island in the middle, then the remaining cattle and men ; 
occupying the post of honor, I, as usual, was the last to enter the 
canoe. A number of the inhabitants stood armed all the time we 
were embarking. I showed them my watch, lens, and other things 
to keep them amused, until there only remained those who were 
to enter the canoe with me. I thanked them for their kindness, 
and wished them peace. After all, they may have been influenced 
only by the intention to be ready in case I should play them some 
false trick, for they have reason to be distrustful of the whites. 
The guides came over to bid us adieu, and we sat under a mango- 
tree fifteen feet in circumference. We found them more commu- 
nicative now. They said that the land on both sides belonged to 
the Bazunga, and that they had left of old, on the approach of 
Changamera, Ngaba, and Mpakane. Sekwebu was with the last 
named, but he maintained that they never came to the confluence. 



EUINS OF STONE HOUSES. ^ (327 

though they carried off all the cattle of Mburuma. The guides 
continued this hj saying'that the Bazunga were not attacked, but 
ded in alarm on the approach of the enemy. This mango-tree he 
knew by its proper name, and we found seven others and several 
tamarinds, and were informed that the chief Mburuma sends men 
annually to gather the fruit, but, like many Africans whom I have 
known, has not had patience to propagate more trees. I gave 
them some little presents for themselves, a handkerchief and a few 
beads, and they were highly pleased with a cloth of red baize for 
Mburuma, which Sekeletu had given me to purchase a canoe. We 
were thankful to part good friends. 

Next morning we passed along the bottom of the range, called 
Mazanzwe, and found the ruins of eight or ten stone houses. 
They all faced the river, and were high enough uj) the flanks 
of the hill Mazanzwe to command a pleasant view of the broad 
Zambesi. These establishments had all been built on one plan — 
a house on one side of a large court, surrounded by a wall ; both 
houses and walls had been built of soft gray sandstone cemented 
together with mud. The work had been performed by slaves 
ignorant of building, for the stones were not often placed so as to 
cover the seams below. Hence you frequently find the joinings 
forming one seam from the top to the bottom. Much mortar or 
clay had been used to cover defects, and now trees of the fig- 
family grow upon the walls, and clasp them with their roots. 
When the clay is moistened, masses of the walls come down 
by wholesale. Some of the rafters and beams had fallen in, but 
were entire, and there were some trees in the middle of the 
houses as large as a man's body. On the opposite or south bank 
of the Zambesi we saw the remains of a wall on a height which 
was probably a fort, and the church stood at a central point, 
formed by the right bank of the Loangwa and the left of the 
Zambesi. 

The situation of Zumbo was admirably well chosen as a site 
for commerce. Looking backward we see a mass of high, dark 
mountains, covered with trees ; behind us rises the fine higli 
hill Mazanzwe, which stretches away northward along the left 
bank of the Loangwa ; to the S.E. lies an open country, with 
a small round hill in the distance called Tofulo. The mer- 
chanta, as they sat beneath the verandahs in front of their 



628 LACEEDA'S VISIT TO CAZEMBE. 

houses, had a magnificent view of the two rivers at their conflu- 
ence ; of their church at the angle ; and of all the gardens which 
they had on both sides of the rivers. In these they cultivated 
wheat without irrigation, and, as the Portuguese assert, of a grain 
twice the size of that at Tete. From the guides we learned that 
the inhabitants had not imbibed much idea of Christianity, for 
they used the same term for the church bell which they did for 
a diviner's drum. From this point the merchants had water 
communication in three directions beyond, namely, from the Lo- 
angwa to the N.N.W., by the Kafue to the W., and by the Zam- 
besi to the S.W. Their attention, however, was chiefly attracted 
to the N. or Londa ; and the principal articles of trade were ivory 
and slaves. Private enterprise was always restrained, for the 
colonies of the Portuguese being strictly military, and the pay of 
the commandants being very small, the officers have always been 
obliged to engage in trade ; and had they not employed their 
power to draw the trade to themselves by preventing private 
traders from making bargains beyond the villages, and only at 
regulated prices, they would have had no trade, as they them- 
selves were obliged to remain always at their posts. 

Several expeditions went to the north as far as to Cazembe, and 
Dr. Lacerda, himself commandant of Tete, went to that chief's 
residence. Unfortunately, he was cut off while there, and his 
papers, taken possession of by a Jesuit who accompanied him, 
were lost to the world. This Jesuit probably intended to act fair- 
ly and have them published ; but soon after his return he was call- 
ed away by death himself, and the papers were lost sight of. Dr. 
Lacerda had a strong desire to open up communication with An- 
gola, which would have been of importance then, as affording a 
speedier mode of communication with Portugal than by the way 
of the Cape ; but since the opening of the overland passage to 
India, a quicker transit is effected from Eastern Africa to Lisbon 
by way of the Red Sea. Besides Lacerda, Cazembe was visited 
by Pereira,'^ who gave a glowing account of that chief's power, 
which none of my inquiries have confirmed. The people of 
Matiamvo stated to me that Cazembe was a vassal of their chief; 
and, from all the native visitors whom I have seen, he appears to 
be exactly like Shinte and Katema, only a little more powerful. 
The term "Emperor," which has been applied to him, seems totally 



><.» 

i'::^\ 



' -'■/Si 




iff «- 






A MAN TOSSED BY A BUFFALO. 631 

inappropriate. The statement of Pereira that twenty negroes were 
slaughtered in a day, was not confirmed by any one else, though 
numbers may have been killed on some particular occasion during 
the time of his visit, for we find throughout all the country north 
of 20°, which I consider to be real negro, the custom of slaugh- 
tering victims to accompany the departed soul of a chief, and hu- 
man sacrifices are occasionally offered, and certain parts of the 
bodies are used as charms. It is on account of the existence 
of such rites, with the similarity of the language, and the fact 
that the names of rivers are repeated again and again from north 
to south through all that region, that I consider them to have 
been originally one family. The last expedition to Cazembe was 
somewhat of the same nature as the others, and failed in estab- 
lishing a commerce, because the people of Cazembe, who had 
come to Tete to invite the Portuguese to visit them, had not been 
allowed to trade with whom they might. As it had not been free- 
trade there, Cazembe did not see why it should be free-trade at 
his town ; he accordingly would not allow his people to furnish 
the party with food except at his price ; and the expedition, being- 
half starved in consequence, came away voting unanimously that 
Cazembe was a great bore. 

When we left the Loangwa we thought we had got rid of the 
hills ; but there are some behind Mazanzwe, though five or six 
miles off from the river. Tsetse and the hills had destroyed two 
riding oxen, and when the little one that I now rode knocked 
up, I was forced to march on foot. The bush being very dense 
and high, we were going along among the trees, when three buf- 
faloes, which we had unconsciously passed above the wind, thought 
that they were surrounded by men, and dashed through our line. 
My ox set off at a gallop, and when I could manage to glance 
back, I saw one of the men up in the air about five feet above a 
buffalo, which was tearing along with a stream of blood running- 
down his flank. When I got back to the poor fellow, I found 
that he had lighted on his face, and, though he had been can-ied 
on the horns of the buffalo about twenty yards before getting the 
final toss, the skin was not pierced nor was a bone broken. When 
the beasts appeared, he had thrown down his load and stabbed one 
in the side. It turned suddenly upon him, and, before he could 
use a tree for defense, carried him off. We shampooed him well. 



632 CAEFRE WAR. 

and then went on, and in about a week he was able to engage in 
the hunt again. 

At Zumbo we had entered upon old gray sandstone, with shingle 
in it, dipping generally toward the south, and forming the bed of. 
the river. The Zambesi is very broad here, but contains many 
inhabited islands. We slept opposite one on the 16th called Shi- 
banga. The nights are warm, the temperature never falling below 
80° ; it was 91° even at sunset. One can not cool the water by 
a wet towel round the vessel, and we feel no pleasure in drinking 
warm water, though the heat makes us imbibe large quantities. 
We often noticed lumps of a froth-like substance on the bushes 
as large as cricket-balls, which we could not explain. 

On the morning of the 17th we were pleased to see a person 
coming from the island of Shibanga with jacket and hat on. He 
was quite black, but had come from the Portuguese settlement at 
Tete or Nyungwe ; and now, for the first time, we understood that 
the Portuguese settlement was on the other bank of the river, and' 
that they had been fighting with the natives for the last two 
years. We had thus got into the midst of a CafFre war, without 
any particular wish to be on either side. He advised us to cross 
the river at once, as Mpende lived on this side. We had been 
warned by the guides of Mburuma against him, for they said that 
if we could get past Mpende we might reach the white men, but 
that he was determined that no white man should pass him. 
Wishing to follow this man's advice, we proposed to borrow his 
canoes ; but, being afraid to ofi'end the lords of the river, he de- 
clined. The consequence was, we were obliged to remain on the 
enemy's side. The next island belonged to a man named Zungo, 
a fine, frank fellow, who brought us at once a present of corn, 
bound in a peculiar way in grass. He freely accepted our apolo- 
gy for having no present to give in return, as he knew that there 
were no goods in the interior, and, besides, sent forward a recom- 
mendation to his brother-in-law Pangola. The country adjacent 
to the river is covered with dense bush, thorny and tangled, mak- 
ing one stoop or wait till the men broke or held the branches on 
one side. There is much rank grass, but it is not so high or rank 
as that of Angola. The maize, however, which is grown here is 
equal in size to that which the Americans sell for seed at the 
Cape. There is usually a holm adjacent to the river, studded 



DANCING FOE CORN. ^ 533 



with villages and gardens. The holms are but partially culti- 
vated, and on the other parts grows rank and weedy grass. There 
is then a second terrace, on which trees and bushes abound ; and 
I thought I could detect a third and higher steppe. But I never 
could discover terraces on the adjacent country, such as in other 
countries show ancient sea-beaches. The path runs sometimes on 
the one and sometimes on the other of these river terraces. Ca- 
noes are essentially necessary ; but I find that they here cost too 
much for my means, and higher up, where my hoes might have 
secured one, I was unwilling to enter into a canoe and part with 
my men while there was danger of their being attacked. 

ISth. Yesterday we rested under a broad-spreading fig-tree. 
Large numbers of buffaloes and water-antelopes were feeding qui- 
etly in the meadows ; the people have either no guns or no am- 
munition, or they would not be so tame. Pangola visited us, and 
presented us with food. In few other countries would one hund- 
red and fourteen sturdy vagabonds be supported by the generosity 
of the head men and villagers, and whatever they gave be pre- 
sented with politeness. My men got pretty well supplied indi- 
vidually, for they went into the villages and commenced dancing. 
The young women were especially pleased with the new steps they 
had to show, though I suspect many of them were invented for 
the occasion, and would say, "Dance for me, and I will grind corn 
for you." At every fresh instance of liberality, Sekwebu said, 
" Did not I tell you that these people had hearts, while we were 
still at Linyanti?" All agreed that the character he had given 
was true, and some remarked, " Look ! although we have been so 
long away from home, not one of us has become lean." It was a 
fact that we had been all well supplied either with meat by my 
gun or their own spears, or food from the great generosity of the 
inhabitants. Pangola promised to ferry us across the Zambesi, 
but failed to fulfill his promise. He seemed to wish to avoid 
offending his neighbor Mpende by aiding us to escape from his 
hands, so we proceeded along the bank. Although we were in 
doubt as to our reception by Mpende, I could not help admiring 
the beautiful country as we passed along. There is, indeed, only 
a small part under cultivation in this fertile valley, but my mind 
naturally turned to the comparison of it with Kolobeng, where 
we waited anxiously during months for rain, and only a mere 



634 BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY. 

thunder-shower followed. I shall never forget the dry, hot east 
winds of that region ; the yellowish, sultry, cloudless sky ; the 
grass and all the plants drooping from drought, the cattle lean, 
the people dispirited, and our own hearts sick from hope deferred. 
There we often heard in the dead of the night the shrill whistle 
of the rain-doctor calling for rain that would not come, while her(i 
we listened to the rolling thunder by night, and beheld the swell- 
ing valleys adorned with plenty by day. We have rain almost 
daily, and every thing is beautifully fresh and green. I felt 
somewhat as people do on coming ashore after a long voyage — 
inclined to look upon the landscape in the most favorable light. 
The hills are covered with forests, and there is often a long line 
of fleecy cloud lying on them about midway up ; they are very 
beautiful. Finding no one willing to aid us in crossing the river, 
we proceeded to the village of the chief Mpende. A fine large 
conical hill now appeared to the N.N.E. ; it is the highest I 
have seen in these parts, and at some points it appears to be two 
cones joined together, the northern one being a little lower than 
the southern. Another high hill stands on the same side to the 
N.E., and, from its similarity in shape to an axe at the top, is 
called Motemwa. Beyond it, eastward, lies the country of 
Kaimbwa, a chief who has been engaged in actual conflict witli 
the Bazunga, and beat them too, according to the version of 
things here. The hills on the north bank are named Kamoenja. 
When we came to Mpende's village, he immediately sent to in- 
quire who we were, and then ordered the guides who had come 
with us from the last village to go back and call their masters. 
He sent no message to us whatever. We had traveled very 
slowly up to this point, the tsetse-stricken oxen being now unable 
to go two miles an hour. We were also delayed by being obliged 
to stop at every village, and send notice of our approach to the 
head man, who came and received a little information, and gave 
some food. If we had passed on without taking any notice of 
them, they would have considered it impolite, and we should 
have appeared more as enemies than friends. I consoled myself 
for the loss of time by the thought that these conversations tended 
to the opening of our future path; 

2Sd. This morning, at sunrise, a party of Mpende's people 
came close to our encampment, uttering strange cries and waving 



A FIGHT ANTICIPATED. 635 

some bright red substance toward us. They then lighted a fire 
with charms in it, and departed, uttering the same hideous 
screams as before. This was intended to render us powerless, 
and probably also to frighten us. Ever since dawn, parties of 
armed men have been seen collecting from all quarters, and num- 
bers passed us while it was yet dark. Had we moved down the 
river at once, it would have been considered an indication of fear 
or defiance, and so would a retreat. I therefore resolved to wait, 
trusting in Him who has the hearts of all men in His hands. 
They evidently intended to attack us, for no friendly message 
was sent ; and when three of the Batoka the night before entered 
the village to beg food, a man went round about each of them, 
making a noise like a lion. The villagers then called upon 
them to do homage, and, when they complied, the chief ordered 
some chaff to be given them, as if it had been food. Other 
things also showed unmistakable hostility. As we were now 
pretty certain of a skirmish, I ordered an ox to be slaughtered, 
as this is a means which Sebituane employed for inspiring 
courage. I have no doubt that we should have been victorious ; 
indeed, my men, who were far better acquainted with fighting 
than any of the people on the Zambesi, were rejoicing in the 
prospect of securing captives to carry the tusks for them. "We 
shall now," said they, "get both corn and clothes in plenty." 
They were in a sad state, poor fellows ; for the rains we had 
encountered had made their skin-clothing drop off piecemeal, and 
they were looked upon with disgust by the well-fed and well- 
clothed Zambesians. They were, however, veterans in maraud- 
ing, and the head men, instead of being depressed by fear, as the 
people of Mpende intended should be the case in using their 
charms, hinted broadly to me that I ought to allow them to 
keep Mpende's wives. The roasting of meat went on fast and 
furious, and some of the young men said to me, " You have seen 
us with elephants, but you don't know yet what we can do with 
men." I believe that, had Mpende struck the first blow, he 
would soon have found out that he never made a greater mistake 
in his life. 

His whole tribe was assembled at about the distance of half 
a mile. As the country is covered with trees, we did not sec 
them ; but every now and then a few came about us as spies, 



636 MPENDE'S FRIENDSHIP. 

and would answer no questions. I handed a leg of the ox to two 
of these, and desired them to take it to Mpende. After waiting 
a considerable time in suspense, two old men made their appear- 
ance, and said they had come to inquire who I was. I replied, 
" I am a Leko^" (an Englishman). They said, " We don't know 
that tribe. We suppose you are a Mozunga, the tribe with which 
we have been fighting." As I was not yet aware that the term 
Mozunga was applied to a Portuguese, and thought they meant 
half-castes, I showed them my hair and the skin of my bosom, 
and asked if the Bazunga had hair and skin like mine. As the 
Portuguese have the custom of catting the hair close, and are also 
somewhat darker than we are, they answered, " No ; we never saw 
skin so white as that ;" and added, " Ah ! you must be one of 
that tribe that loves (literally, has heart to) the black men." I, 
of course, gladly responded in the affirmative. They returned to 
the village, and we afterward heard that there had been a long 
discussion between Mpende and his councilors, and that one of the 
men with whom we had remained to talk the day before had been 
our advocate. He was named Sindese Oalea. When we were 
passing his village, after some conversation, he said to his people, 
" Is that the man whom they wish to stop after he has passed so 
many tribes? What can Mpende say to refusing him a pas- 
sage V It was owing to this man, and the fact that I belonged 
to the "friendly white tribe," that Mpende was persuaded to al- 
low us to pass. When we knew the favorable decision of the 
council, I sent Sekwebu to speak about the purchase of a canoe, 
as one of my men had become very ill, and I wished to relieve 
his companions by taking him in a canoe. Before Sekwebu 
could finish his story, Mpende remarked, "That white man is 
truly one of our friends. See how he lets me know his afflic- 
tions !" Sekwebu adroitly toot advantage of this turn in the 
conversation, and said, " Ah ! if you only knew him as well as 
we do who have lived with him, you would understand that he 
highly values your friendship and that of Mburuma, and, as he is 
a stranger, he trusts in you to direct him." He replied, "Well, 
he ought to cross to the other side of the river, for this bank is 
hilly and rough, and the way to Tete is longer on this than on 
the opposite bank." "But who will take us across, if you do not?" 
" Truly !" replied Mpende ; " I only wish you had come sooner to 



CROSSING THE ZAMBESI. 637 

tell me about liim ; but you shall cross." Mpende said frequent- 
ly he was sorry lie had not known me sooner, but that he had 
been prevented by his enchanter from coming near me ; and he 
lamented that the same person had kept him from eating the meat 
which I had presented. He did every thing he could afterward to 
aid us on our course, and our departure was as different as possi- 
ble from our approach to his village. I was very much pleased 
to find the Englisli name spoken of with such great respect so far 
from the coast, and most thankful that no collision occurred to 
damage its influence. 

24?;/i. Mpende sent two of his principal men to order the 
people of a large island below to ferry us across. The river is 
very broad, and, though my men were well acquainted with the 
management of canoes, we could not all cross over before dark. 
It is 1200 yards from bank to bank, and between 700 and 800 
of deep water, flowing at the rate of 3| miles per hour. We 
landed first on an island ; then, to prevent our friends playing 
false with us, hauled the canoes up to our bivouac, and slept in 
them. Next morning we all reached the opposite bank in safety. 
We observed, as we came along the Zambesi, that it had fallen two 
feet below the height at which we first found it, and the water, 
though still muddy enough to deposit a film at the bottom of ves- 
sels in a few hours, is not nearly so red as it was, nor is there so 
much wreck on its surface. It is therefore not yet the period of 
the central Zambesi inundation, as we were aware also from our 
knowledge of the interior. The present height of the water has 
been caused by rains outside the eastern ridge. The people here 
seem abundantly supplied with English cotton goods. The Ba- 
bisa are the medium of trade, for we were informed that the Ba- 
zunga, who formerly visited these parts, have been prevented by 
the war from coming for the last two years. The Babisa are said 
to be so fond of a tusk that they will even sell a newly-married 
wife for one. As we were now not far from the latitude of Mozam- 
bique, I was somewhat tempted to strike away from the river to that 
port, instead of going to the S.E., in the direction the river flows ; 
but, the great object of my journey being to secure water-carriage, 
I resolved to continue along the Zambesi, though it did lead mc 
among the enemies of the Portuguese. The region to the nortli 
of the ranges of hills on our left is called Senga, from being the 



638 BAKWATN THEORY OF RAIN. 

country of the Basenga, who are said to be great workers in iron, 
and to possess abundance of fine iron ore, which, when broken, 
shows veins of the pure metal in its substance. It has been 
well roasted in the operations of nature. Beyond Senga lies a 
range of mountains called Mashinga, to which the Portuguese 
in former times went to wash for gold, and beyond that are 
great numbers of tribes which pass under the general term Ma- 
ravi. To the northeast there are extensive plains destitute of 
trees, but covered with grass, and in some places it is marshy. 
The whole of the country to the north of the Zambesi is asserted 
to be very much more fertile than that to the south. The Mara- 
vi, for instance, raise sweet potatoes of immense size, but when 
these are planted on the southern bank they soon degenerate. 
The root of this plant {Convolvulus batata) does not keep more 
than two or three days, unless it is cut into thin slices and dried 
in the sun, "but the Maravi manage to preserve them for months 
by digging a pit and burying them therein inclosed in wood-ashes. 
Unfortunately, the Maravi, and all the tribes on that side of the 
country, are at enmity with the Portuguese, and, as they practice 
night attacks in their warfare, it is dangerous to travel among 
them. 

29M. I was most sincerely thankful to find myself on the 
south bank of the Zambesi, and, having nothing else, I sent back 
one of my two spoons and a shirt as a thank-offering to Mpende. 
The different head men along this river act very much in concert, 
and if one refuses passage they all do, uttering the sage remark, 
" If so-and-so did not lend his canoes, he must have had some 
good reason." The next island we came to was that of a man 
named Mozinkwa. Here we were detained some days by con- 
tinuous rains, and thought we observed the confirmation of the 
Bakwain theory of rains. A double tier of clouds floated quick- 
ly away to the west, and as soon as they began to come in an 
opposite direction the rains poured down. The inhabitants who 
live in a dry region like that of Kolobeng are nearly all as weath- 
erwise as the rain-makers, and any one living among them for 
any length of time becomes as much interested in the motions 
of the clouds as they are themselves. Mr. Moffat, who was as 
sorely tried by droughts as we were, and had his attention direct- 
ed in the same way, has noted the curious phenomenon of thun- 



NATIVES' IDEAS OF THE ENGLISH. 639 

der without clouds. Mrs. L. heard it once, but I never had that 
a:ood fortune. It is worth the attention of the observant. Hum- 
boldt has seen rain without clouds, a phenomenon quite as singu- 
lar. I have been in the vicinity of the fall of three aerolites, none 
of which I could afterward discover. One fell into the lake Ku- 
raadau with a report somewhat like a sharp peal of thunder. The 
women of the Bakurutse villages there all uttered a scream on 
hearing it. This happened at midday, and so did another at what 
is called the Great Cliuai, which was visible in its descent, and 
was also accompanied with a thundering noise. The third fell 
near Kuruman, and at night, and was seen as a falling star by 
people at Motito and at Daniel's Kuil, places distant forty miles 
on opposite sides of the spot. It sounded to me like the report 
of a great gun, and a few seconds after, a lesser sound, as if strik- 
ing the earth after a rebound. Does the passage of a few such 
aerolites through the atmosphere to the earth by day cause thun- 
der without clouds ? 

We were detained here so long that my tent became again 
quite rotten. One of my men, after long sickness, which I did 
not understand, died here. He was one of the Batoka, and when 
unable to walk I had some difficulty in making his companions 
carry him. They wished to leave him to die when his case be- 
came hopeless. Another of them deserted to Mozinkwa. He 
said that his motive for doing so was that the Makololo had 
killed both his father and mother, and, as he had neither wife 
nor child, there was no reason why he should continue longer 
with them. I did not object to his statements, but said if he 
should change his mind he would be welcome to rejoin us, and 
intimated to Mozinkwa that he must not be sold as a slave. 
We are now among people inured to slave-dealing. We were 
visited by men who had been as far as Tete or Nyungwe, and 
were told that we were but ten days from that fort. One of 
them, a Mashona man, who had come from a great distance to the 
southwest, was anxious to accompany us to the country of the 
white men; he had traveled far, and I found that he had also 
knowledge of the English tribe, and of their hatred to the trade 
in slaves. He told Sekwebu that the "English were men," an 
emphasis being put upon the term men, which leaves the impres- 
sion that others are, as they express it in speaking scornfully, 



640 DISLIKE TO SLAVE-BUYERS. 

"only things.'''' Several spoke in the same manner, and I found 
that from Mpende's downward I rose higher every day in the 
estimation of my own people. Even the slaves gave a very high 
character to the English, and I found out afterward that, when 
I was first reported at Tete, the servants of my friend the com- 
mandant said to him in joke, "Ah! this is our brother who is 
coming ; we shall all leave you and go with him." We had still, 
however, some difficulties in store for us lDefo]:e reaching that 
point. 

The man who wished to accompany us came and told us before 
our departure that his wife would not allow him to go, and she 
herself came to confirm the decision. Here the women have only 
a small puncture in the upper lip, in which they insert a little 
button of tin. The perforation is made by degrees, a ring with 
an opening in it being attached to the lip, and the ends squeezed 
gradually together. The pressure on the flesh between the ends 
of the ring causes its absorption, and a hole is the result. Chil- 
dren may be seen with the ring on the lip, but not yet punctured. 
The tin they purchase from the Portuguese, and, although silver 
is reported to have been found in former times in this district, no 
one could distinguish it from tin. But they had a knowledge of 
gold, and for the first time I heard the word " dalama" (gold) in 
the native language. The word is quite unknown in the interior, 
and so is the metal itself. In conversing with the different peo- 
ple, we found the idea prevalent that those who had purchased 
slaves from them had done them an injury. " All the slaves of 
Nyungwe," said one, " are our children ; the Bazunga have made 
a town at our expense." When I asked if they had not taken 
the prices offered them, they at once admitted it, but still thought 
that they had been injured by being so far tempted. From the 
way in which the lands of Zumbo were spoken of as still belong- 
ing to the Portuguese (and they are said to have been obtained by 
purchase), I was inclined to conclude that the purchase of land is 
not looked upon by the inhabitants in the same light as the pur- 
chase of slaves. 

February \st. We met some native traders, and, as many of 
my men were now in a state of nudity, I bought some American 
calico marked " Lawrence Mills, Lowell," with two small tusks, 
and distributed it among the most needy. After leaving Mo- 



SAND-EIVULET ZINGESI. 641 

zinkwa's we came to the Zingesi, a sand-rivulet in flood (lat. 15° 
38^ M'' S., long. 31° V E.). It was sixty or seventy yards wide, 
and waist-deep. Like all these sand-rivers, it is for the most part 
dry ; but Iby digging down a few feet, water is to he found, which 
is percolating along the bed on a stratum of clay. This is the 
phenomenon which is dignified by the name of " a river flowing 
under ground." In trying to ford this I felt thousands of particles 
of coarse sand striking my legs, and the slight disturbance of our 
footsteps caused deep holes to be made in the bed. The water, 
which is almost always very rapid in them, dug out the sand be- 
neath our feet in a second or two, and we were all sinking by that 
means so deep that we were glad to relinquish the attempt to 
ford it before we got half way over ; the oxen were carried away 
down into the Zambesi. These sand-rivers remove vast masses 
of disintegrated rock before it is fine enough to form soil. The 
man who preceded me was only thigh-deep, but the disturbance 
caused by his feet made it breast -deep for me. The shower 
of particles and gravel which struck against my legs gave me 
the idea that the amount of matter removed by every freshet 
must be very great. In most rivers where much wearing is 
going on, a person diving to the bottom may hear literally thou- 
sands of stones knocking against each other. This attrition, 
being carried on for hundreds of miles in different rivers, must 
have an effect greater than if all the pestles and mortars and 
mills of the world were grinding and wearing away the rocks. 
The pounding to which I refer may be heard most distinctly 
in the Vaal River, when that is slightly in flood. It was there 
I first heard it. In the Leeambye, in the middle of the country, 
where there is no discoloration, and little carried along but sand, it 
is not to be heard. 

While opposite the village of a head man called Mosusa, a 
number of elephants took refuge on an island in the river. 
There were two males, and a third not full grown ; indeed, 
scarcely the size of a female. This was the first instance I had 
ever seen of a comparatively young one with the males, for tliey 
usually remain with the female herd till as large as their dams. 
The inhabitants were very anxious that my men should attack 
them, as they go into the gardens on the islands, and do much 
damage. The men went, but the elephants ran about half a 

Ss 



642 • GAME-LAWS. 

mile to the opposite end of the island, and swam to the main 
land with their prohosces above the water, and, no canoe being 
near, they escaped. They swim strongly, with the proboscis 
erect in the air. I was not very desirous to have one of these 
animals killed, for we understood that when we passed Mpende 
we came into a country where the game-laws are strictly en- 
forced. The lands of each chief are very well defined, the bound- 
aries being usually marked by rivulets, great numbers of which 
flow into the Zambesi from both banks, and, if an elephant is 
wounded on one man's land and dies on that of another, the under 
half of the carcass is claimed by the lord of the soil; and so strin- 
gent is the law, that the hunter can not begin at once to cut up 
his own elephant, but must send notice to the lord of the soil on 
which it lies, and wait until that personage sends one authorized 
to see a fair partition made. If the hunter should begin to cut up 
before the agent of the landowner arrives, he is liable to lose both 
the tusks and all the flesh. The hind leg of a buffalo must also 
be given to the man on whose land the animal was grazing, and 
a still larger quantity of the eland, which here and every where 
else in the country is esteemed right royal food. In the country 
above Zumbo we did not find a vestige of this law ; and but for 
the fact that it existed in the country of the Bamapela, far to the 
south of this, I should have been disposed to regard it in the same 
light as I do the payment for leave to pass — an imposition levied 
on him who is seen to be weak because in the hands of his slaves. 
The only game-laws in the interior are, that the man who first 
wounds an animal, though he has inflicted but a mere scratch, is 
considered the killer of it; the second is entitled to a hind quar- 
ter, and the third to a fore leg. The chiefs are generally enti- 
tled to a share as tribute ; in some parts it is the breast, in others 
the whole of the ribs and one fore leg. I generally respected this 
law, although exceptions are sometimes made when animals are 
killed by guns. The knowledge that he who succeeds in reach- 
ing the wounded beast first is entitled to a share stimulates the 
whole party to greater exertions in dispatching it. One of my 
men, having a knowledge of elephant medicine, was considered the 
leader in the hunt ; he went before the others, examined the ani- 
mals, and on his decision all depended. If he decided to attack 
a herd, the rest went boldly on ; but if he declined, none of them 



THE SPOTTED HYiENA. 643 

would engage. A certain part of the elephant belonged to him by 
right of the office he held, and such was the faith in medicine held 
by the slaves of the Portuguese whom we met hunting, that they 
offered to pay this man handsomely if he would show them the 
elephant medicine. 

When near Mosusa's village we passed a rivulet called Chowe, 
now running with rain-water. The inhabitants there extract a 
little salt from the sand when it is dry, and all the people of the 
adjacent country come to purchase it from them. This was the 
first salt we had met Avith since leaving Angola, for none is to be 
found in either the country of the Balonda or Barotse ; but we 
heard of salt-pans about a fortnight west of Naliele, and I got a 
small supply from Mpololo while there. That had long since 
been finished, and I had again lived two months without salt, suf- 
fering no inconvenience except an occasional longing for animal 
food or milk. 

In marching along, the rich reddish-brown soil was so clammy 
that it was very difficult to walk. It is, however, extremely fer- 
tile, and the people cultivate amazing quantities of corn, maize, 
millet, ground-nuts, pumpkins, and cucumbers. We observed, 
that, when plants failed in one spot, they were in the habit of trans- 
planting them into another, and they had also grown large num- 
bers of young plants on the islands, where they are favored by 
moisture from the river, and were now removing them to the main 
land. The fact of their being obliged to do this shows that there 
is less rain here than in Londa, for there we observed the grain in 
all stages of its growth at the same time. 

The people here build their huts in gardens on high stages. 
This is necessary on account of danger from the spotted hysena, 
which is. said to be very fierce, and also as a protection against 
lions and elephants. The hysena is a very cowardly animal, 
but frequently approaches persons lying asleep, and makes an 
ugly gash on the face. Mozinkwa had lost his upper lip in this 
way, and I have heard of men being killed by them ; children, 
too, are sometimes carried off ; for, though he is so cowardly that 
the human voice will make him run away at once, yet, when his 
teeth are in the flesh, he holds on, and shows amazing power of 
jaw. Leg-bones of oxen, from which the natives have extracted 
the marrow and every thing eatable, are by this animal crunched 



g44 -^ STINGY WHITE TKADEK. 

up with the greatest ease, which he apparently effects by turning 
them round in his teeth till they are in a suitable position for be- 
ing split. 

We had now come among people who had plenty, and were 
really very liberal. My men never returned from a village with- 
out some corn or maize in their hands. The real politeness with 
which food is given by nearly all the interior tribes, who have not 
had much intercourse with Europeans, makes it a pleasure to ac- 
cept. Again and again I have heard an apology made for the 
smallness of the present, or regret expressed that they had not 
received notice of my approach in time to grind more, and gener- 
ally they readily accepted our excuse at having nothing to give in 
return by saying that they were quite aware that there are no 
white men's goods in the interior. When I had it in my power, 
I always gave something really useful. To Katema, Shinte, 
and others, I gave presents which cost me about £2 each, and I 
could return to them at any time without having a character for 
stinginess. How some men can offer three buttons, or some 
other, equally contemptible gift, while they have abundance in 
their possession, is to me unaccountable. They surely do not 
know, when they write it in their books, that they are declaring 
they have compromised the honor of Englishmen. The people 
receive the offering with a degree of shame, and ladies may be 
seen to hand it quickly to the attendants, and, when they retire, 
laugh until the tears stand in their eyes, saying to those about 
them, "Is that a white man? then there are niggards among 
them too. Some of them are born without hearts !" One white 
trader, having presented an old gun to a chief, became a standing 
joke in the tribe: "The white man who made a present of a 
gun that was new when his grandfather was sucking his great- 
grandmother." When these tricks are repeated, the natives come 
to the conclusion that 'people who show such a want of sense 
must be told their duty ; they therefore let them know what they 
ought to give, and travelers then complain of being pestered 
with their "shameless begging." I was troubled by importu- 
nity on the confines of civilization only, and when I first came 
to Africa. 

February Ath, We were much detained by rains, a heavy 
shower without wind falling every morning about daybreak ; it 



BOEOMA'S VILLAGE. 645 

often cleared up after that, admitting of our moving on a few 
miles. A continuous rain of several hours then set in. The 
wind up to this point was always from the east, hut both rain and 
wind now came so generally from the west, or opposite direction 
to what we had been accustomed to in the interior, that we were 
obliged to make our encampment face the east, in order to have 
them in our backs. The country adjacent to the river abounds 
in large trees ; but the population is so numerous that, those left 
being all green, it is difficult to get dry firewood. On coming to 
some places, too, we were warned by the villagers not to cut the 
trees growing in certain spots, as they contained the graves of 
their ancestors. There are many tamarind-trees, and another 
very similar, which yields a fruit as large as a small walnut, of 
which the elephants are very fond. It is called Motondo, and the 
Portuguese extol its timber as excellent for building boats, as it 
does not soon rot in water. 

On the 6tli we came to the village of Boroma, which is situated 
among a number of others, each surrounded by extensive patches 
of cultivation. On the opposite side of the river we have a great 
cluster of conical hills called Chorichori. Boroma did not make 
his appearance, but sent a substitute who acted civilly. I sent 
Sekwebu in the morning to state that we intended to move on ; 
his mother replied that, as she had expected that we should re- 
main, no food was ready, but she sent a basket of corn and a fowl. 
As an excuse why Boroma did not present himself, she said that 
he was seized that morning by the Barimo, which probably meant 
that his lordship was drunk. 

We marched along the river to a point opposite the hill Pinkwe 
(lat. 15° 39^ W S., long. 32° 5' E.), but the late abundant rains 
now flooded the Zambesi again, and great quantities of wreck 
appeared upon the stream. It is probable that frequent freshets, 
caused by the rains on this side of the ridge, have prevented 
the Portuguese near the coast from recognizing the one peculiar 
flood of inundation observed in the interior, and caused the belief 
that it is flooded soon after the commencement of the rains. The 
course of the Nile being in the opposite direction to this, it does 
not receive these subsidiary waters, and hence its inundation is 
recognized all the way along its course. If the Leeambye were 
prolonged southward into the Cape Colony, its flood would be 



646 FOSSIL TREES. 

identical with that of the Nile. It would not be influenced hj 
any streams in the Kalahari, for there, as in a corresponding part 
of the Nile, there would Ibe no feeders. It is to be remembered 
that the great ancient river which flowed to the lake at Boochap 
took this course exactly, and probably flowed thither until the fis- 
sure of the falls was made. 

This flood having filled the river, we found the numerous rivu- 
lets which flow into it filled also, and when going along the Zam- 
besi, we lost so much time in passing up each little stream till we 
could find a ford about waist deep, and then returning to the bank, 
that I resolved to leave the river altogether, and strike away to 
the southeast. We accordingly struck off" when opposite the hill 
Pinkwe, and came into a hard Mopane country. In a hole of one 
of the mopane-trees I noticed that a squirrel [Sciurus cepajji) 
had placed a great number of fresh leaves over a store of seed. 
It is not against the cold of winter that they thus lay up food, 
but it is a provision against the hot season, when the trees have 
generally no seed. A great many silicified trees are met with 
lying on the ground all over this part of the country ; some are 
broken off horizontally, and stand upright ; others are lying prone, 
and' broken across into a number of pieces. One was 4 feet 8 
inches in diameter, and the wood must have been soft like that of 
the baobab, for there were only six concentric rings to the inch. 
As the semidiameter was only 28 inches, this large tree could 
have been but 168 years old. I found also a piece of palm-tree 
transformed into oxide of iron, and the pores filled with pure silica. 
These fossil trees lie upon soft gray sandstone containing banks 
of shingle, which forms the underlying rock of the country all the 
way from Zumbo to near Lupata. It is met with at Litubaruba 
and in Angola, with similar banks of shingle imbedded exactly 
like those now seen on the sea-beach, but I never could find a 
shell. There are many nodules and mounds of hardened clay 
upon it, which seem to have been deposited in eddies made round 
the roots of these ancient trees, for they appear of difierent colors 
in wavy and twisted lines. Above this we have small quantities 
of calcareous marl. 

As we were now in the district of Chicova, I examined the ge- 
ological structure of the country with interest, because here, it has 
been stated, there once existed silver mines. The general rock is 



DISTRICT OF CHICOVA. g47 

the gray soft sandstone I have mentioned, hut at the rivulet Ban- 
gue we come upon a dike of hasalt six yards wide, running north 
and south. When we cross this, we come upon several others, 
some of which run more to the eastward. The sandstone is then 
found to have been disturbed, and at the rivulet called Nake we 
found it tilted up and exhibiting a section, which was coarse sand- 
stone above, sandstone-flag, shale, and, lastly, a thin seam of coal. 
The section was only shown for a short distance, and then became 
lost by a fault made by a dike of basalt, which ran to the E.N.E. 
in the direction of Chicova. 

Tliis Chicova is not a kingdom, as has been stated, but a level 
tract, a part of whicli is annually overflowed by the Zambesi, and 
is well adapted for the cultivation of corn. It is said to be below 
the northern end of the hill Bungwe. I was very much pleased 
in discovering this small specimen of such a precious mineral as 
coal. I saw no indication of silver, and, if it ever was worked 
by the natives, it is remarkable that they have entirely lost the 
knowledge of it, and can not distinguish between silver and tin. 
In connection with these basaltic dikes, it may be mentioned 
that when I reached Tete I was informed of the existence of a 
small rapid in the river near Chicova ; had I known this pre- 
viously, I certainly would not have left the river without exam- 
ining it. It is called Kebrabasa, and is described as a number of 
rocks which jut out across the stream. I have no doubt but that 
it is formed by some of the basaltic dikes which we now saw, 
for they generally ran toward that point. I was partly influenced 
in leaving the river by a wish to avoid several chiefs in that di- 
rection, who levy a heavy tribute on those who pass up or down. 
Our path lay along the bed of the Nake for some distance, the 
banks being covered with impenetrable thickets. The villages 
are not numerous, but we went from one to the other, and were 
treated kindly. Here they call themselves Bambiri, though the 
general name of the whole nation is Banyai. One of our guides 
was an inveterate talker, always stopping and asking for pay, that 
he might go on with a merry heart. I thought that he led us in 
the most difficult paths in order to make us feel his value, for, 
after passing through one thicket after another, we always came 
into the bed of the Nake again, and as that was full of coarse 
sand, and the water only ankle deep, and as hot as a foot-bath 



648 NYAMPIINGO, THE EAIN-CHAEMEE. 

from the powerful rajs of the sun, we were all completely tired 
out. He likewise gave us a bad character at every village we 
passed, calling to them that they were to allow him to lead us 
astray, as we were a bad set. Sekwebu knew every word he 
said, and, as he became intolerable, I dismissed him, giving him 
six feet of calico I had bought from native traders, and telling 
him that his tongue was a nuisance. It is in general best, when 
a scolding is necessary, to give it in combination with a present, 
and then end it by good wishes. This fellow went off smiling, 
and my men remarked, "His tongue is cured now." The couut 
try around the ISTake is hilly, and the valleys covered with tangled 
jungle. The people who live in this district have reclaimed their 
gardens from the forest, and the soil is extremely fertile. The 
Nake flows nortlierly, and then to the east. It is 50 or 60 yards 
wide, but during most of the year is dry, affording water only by 
digging in the sand. We found in its bed masses of volcanic 
rock, identical with those I subsequently recognized as such at 
Aden. 

13th. The head man of these parts is named Nyampungo. I 
sent the last fragment of cloth we had, with a request that we 
should be furnished with a guide to the next chief. After a long 
conference with his council, the cloth was returned with a promise 
of compliance, and a request for some beads only. This man is 
supposed to possess the charm for rain, and other tribes send to 
him to beg it. This shows that what we inferred before was cor- 
rect, that less rain falls in this country than in Londa. Nyam- 
pungo behaved in quite a gentlemanly manner, presented me with 
some rice, and told my people to go among all the villages and 
beg for themselves. An old man, father-in-law of the chief, told 
me that he had seen books before, but never knew what they 
meant. They pray to departed chiefs and relatives, but the idea 
of praying to God seemed new, and they heard it with reverence. 
As this was an intelligent old man, I asked him about the silver, 
but he was as ignorant of it as the rest, and said, " We never dug 
silver, but we have washed for gold in the sands of the rivers 
Mazoe and Luia, which unite in the Luenya." I think that this 
is quite conclusive on the question of no silver having been dug 
by the natives of this district. Nyampungo is afflicted with a 
kind of disease called Sesenda, which I imagine to be a species of 



WANT OF CATTLE, 649 

leprosy common in this quarter, though they are a cleanly people. 
They never had cattle. The chief's father had always lived in 
their present position, and, when I asked him why he did not 
possess these useful animals, he said, "Who would give us the 
medicine to enable us to keep them ?" I found out the reason 
afterward in the prevalence of tsetse, but of this he was ignorant, 
having supposed that he could not keep cattle because he had no 
medicine. 



650 ELEPHANT-HUNT. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

a 

An Elephant-hunt. — Offering and Prayers to the Barimo for Success. — Native 
Mode of Expression. — Working of Game-laws. — ^A Feast. — Laughing Hysenas. 
— Numerous Insects. — Curious Notes of Birds of Song. — Caterpillars. — Butter- 
flies. — Silica. — The Fruit Makoronga and Elephants. — Rhinoceros Adventure. 
— Korwe Bird. — Its Nest. — A real Confinement, — Honey and Beeswax. — Super- 
stitious Keverence for the Lion. — Slow Traveling. — Grapes. — The Ue. — Monina's 
Village. — Native Names. — Government of the Banyai. — Electing a Chief. — ^ 
Youths instructed in " Bonyai" — Suspected of Falsehood. — War-dance. — Insan- 
ity and Disappearance of Monahin. — Fruitless Search. — Monina's Sympathy. — 
The Sand-river Tangwe. — The Ordeal Muavi : its Victims. — An unreasonable 
Man. — "Woman's Rights." — Presents. — Temperance. — A winding Course to 
shun Villages. — Banyai Complexion and Hair. — Mushrooms. — The Tubers, Mo- 
kuri. — The Tree Shekabakadzi. — Face of the Country. — Pot-holes. — Pursued by 
a Party of Natives. — Unpleasant Threat. — Aroused by a Company of Soldiers. — 
A civilized Breakfast. — Arrival at Tete. 

14:iA. We left Njampungo tliis morning. The path wound 
u.p the Molinge, another sand-river which flows into the Nake. 
When we got clear of the tangled jungle which covers the banks 
of these rivulets, we entered the Mopane countrj, where we could 
walk with comfort. When we had gone on a few hours, my men 
espied an elephant, and were soon in full pursuit. They were in 
want of meat, having tasted nothing Ibut grain for several days. 
The desire for animal food made them all eager to slay him, and, 
though an old bull, he was soon killed. The people of Nyam- 
pungo had never seen such desperadoes before. One ruslied up 
and hamstrung the beast, while still standing, by a blow with an 
axe. Some Banyai elephant-hunters happened to be present 
when my men were fighting with him. One of them took out 
his snuff-box, and poured out all its contents at the root of a 
tree as an offering to the Barimo for success. As soon as the 
animal fell, the whole of my party engaged in a wild, savage 
dance round the body, which quite frightened the Banyai, and 
he who made the offering said to me, " I see you are traveling 
with people who don't know how to pray: I therefore offered 



GAME-LAWS.— HYiENAS. 651 

the only thing I had in their behalf, and the elephant soon fell." 
One of Nyampungo's men, who remained with me, ran a little 
forward, when an opening in the trees gave us a view of the 
chase, and uttered loud prayers for success in the combat. I 
admired the devout belief they all possessed in the actual exist- 
ence of unseen beings, and prayed that they might yet know 
that benignant One who views us all as his own. My own peo- 
ple, who are rather a degraded lot, remarked to me as I came ujj, 
" God gave it to us. He said to the old beast, ' Go up there ; 
men are come who will kill and eat you.' " These remarks are 
quoted to give the reader an idea of the native mode of ex- 
pression. 

As we were now in the country of stringent game-laws, we 
were obliged to send all the way back to Nyampungo, to give 
information to a certain person who had been left there by the 
real owner of this district to watch over his property, the owner 
himself living near the Zambesi. The side upon which the ele- 
phant fell had a short, broken tusk ; the upper one, which was 
ours, was large and thick. The Banyai remarked on our good 
luck. The men sent to give notice came back late in the after- 
noon of the following day. They brought a basket of corn, a 
fowl, and a few strings of handsome beads, as a sort of thank- 
offering for our having killed it on their land, and said they had 
thanked the Barimo besides for our success, adding, " There it is ;. 
eat it and be glad." Had we begun to cut it up before we got 
this permission, we should have lost the whole. They had brought 
a large party to eat their half, and they divided it with us in a 
friendly way. My men were delighted with the feast, though, by 
lying unopened a whole day, the carcass was pretty far gone. 
An astonishing number of hyaenas collected round, and kept up 
a loud laughter for two whole nights. Some of them do make 
a very good imitation of a laugh. I asked mj men what the hy- 
senas were laughing at, as they usually give animals credit for a 
share of intelligence. They said that they were laughing because 
we could not take the whole, and that they would have plenty to 
eat as well as we. 

On coming to the part where the elephant was slain, we passed 
through grass so tall that it reminded me of that in the valley of 
Cassange. Insects are very numerous after the rains commence. 



652 INSECT LIFE.— BIRDS. 

While waiting Tby the elephant, I observed a great number of in- 
sects, like grains of fine sand, moving on my boxes. On exam- 
ination with a glass, four species were apparent ; one of green 
and gold preening its wings, which glanced in the sun with me- 
tallic lustre ; another clear as crystal ; a third of the color of ver- 
milion ; and a fourth black. These are probably some of those 
which consume the seeds of every plant that grows. Almost 
every kind has its own peculiar insect, and when the rains are 
over very few seeds remain untouched. The rankest poisons, 
as the Kongwhane and Euphorbia, are soon devoured ; the for- 
mer has a scarlet insect; and even the fiery bird's-eye pepper, 
which will keep off many others from their own seeds, is itself 
devoured by a maggot. I observed here, what I had often seen 
before, that certain districts abound in centipedes. Here they 
have light reddish bodies and blue legs ; great myriapedes are seen 
crawling every where. Although they do no harm, they excite in 
man a feeling of loathing. Perhaps our appearance produces a 
similar feeling in the elephant and other large animals. Where 
they have been much disturbed, they certainly look upon us with 
great distrust, as the horrid biped that ruins their peace. In 
the quietest parts of the forest there is heard a faint but dis- 
tinct hum, which tells of insect joy. One may see many whisk-, 
ing about in the clear sunshine in patches among the green 
glancing leaves ; but there are invisible myriads working with 
never-tiring mandibles on leaves, and stalks, and beneath the soil. 
They are all brimful of enjoyment. Indeed, the universality of 
organic life may be called a mantle of happy existence encircling 
the world, and imparts the idea of its being caused by the con- 
sciousness of our benignant Father's smile on all the works of His 
hands. 

The birds of the tropics have been described as generally want- 
ing in power of song. I was decidedly of opinion that this was 
not applicable to many parts in Londa, though birds there are 
remarkably scarce. Here the chorus, or body of song, was not 
much smaller in volume than it is in England. It was not so 
harmonious, and sounded always as if the birds were singing in 
a foreign tongue. Some resemble the lark, and, indeed, there 
are several of that family ; two have notes not unlike those of 
the thrush. One brought the chaffinch to my mind, and another 



BIKDS.— CATEEPILLAES. 653 

the robin ; but their songs are intermixed with several curious 
abrupt notes unHke any thing Enghsh. One utters deliberately 
"peek, pak, pok ;" another has a single note like a stroke on a 
violin-string. The mokwa reza gives forth a screaming set of 
notes like our blackbird when disturbed, then concludes with what 
the natives say is "pula, pula" (rain, rain), but more like "weep, 
weep, weep." Then we have the loud cry of francolins, the 
"pumpuru, purapuru" of turtle-doves, and the " chiken, chiken, 
chik, churr, churr" of the honey-guide. Occasionally, near vil- 
lages, we have a kind of mocking-bird, imitating the calls of 
domestic fowls. These African birds have not been wanting in 
song ; they have only lacked poets to sing their praises, which 
ours have had from the time of Aristophanes downward. Ours 
have both a classic and a modern interest to enhance their fame. 
In hot, dry weather, or at midday when the sun is fierce, all are 
still : let, however, a good shower fall, and all burst forth at once 
into merry lays and loving courtship. The early mornings and 
the cool evenings are their favorite times for singing. There are 
comparatively few with gaudy plumage, being totally unlike, in 
this respect, the birds of the Brazils. The majority have de- 
cidedly a sober dress, though collectors, having generally select- 
ed the gaudiest as the most valuable, have conveyed the idea 
that the birds of the tropics for the most part possess gorgeous 
plumage. 

15ih. Several of my men have been bitten by spiders and other 
insects, but no effect except pain has followed. A large cater- 
pillar is frequently seen, called lezuntabuea. It is covered with 
long gray hairs, and, the body being dark, it resembles a porcu- 
pine in miniature. If one touches it, the hairs run into the pores 
of the skin, and remain there, giving sharp pricks. There are 
others which have a similar means of defense ; and when the hand 
is drawn across them, as in passing a bush on which they happen 
to be, the contact resembles the stinging of nettles. From the 
great number of caterpillars seen, we have a considerable variety 
of butterflies. One particular kind flies more like a swallow than 
a butterfly. They are not remarkable for the gaudiness of their 
colors. 

In passing along we crossed the hills Vungue or Mvungwe, 
which we found to be composed of various eruptive rocks. At 



654 THE EHINOCEEOS. 

one part we have breccia of altered marl or slate in quartz, and 
various amjgdaloids. It is curious to observe the different forms 
which silica assumes. We have it in claystone porphyry here, 
in minute round globules, no larger than turnip-seed, dotted 
thickly over the matrix ; or crystallized round the walls of cavi- 
ties, once filled with air or other elastic fluid ; or it may appear in 
similar cavities as tufts of yellow asbestos, or as red, yellow, or 
green crystals, or in laminas so arranged as to appear like fossil 
wood. Yungue forms the watershed between those sand rivulets 
which run to the N.E., and others which flow southward, as the 
Kapopo, Ue, and Due, which run into the Luia. 

We found that many elephants had been feeding on the fruit 
called Mokoronga. This is a black-colored plum, having purple 
juice. We all ate it in large quantities, as we found it delicious. 
The only defect it has is the great size of the seed in comparison 
with the pulp. This is the chief fault of all uncultivated wild 
fruits. The Mokoronga exists throughout this part of the country 
most abundantly, and the natives eagerly devour it, as it is said 
to be perfectly wholesome, or, as they express it, " It is pure fat," 
and fat is by them considered the best of food. Though only a 
little larger than a cherry, we found that the elephants had stood 
picking them off patiently by the hour. We observed the foot- 
prints of a black rhinoceros {^Rhinoceros hicornis, Linn.) and her 
calf. We saw other footprints among the hills of Semalembue, but 
the black rhinoceros is remarkably scarce in all the country north 
of the Zambesi. The white rhinoceros {Rhinoceros simus of Bur- 
chell), or Mohohu of the Bechuanas, is quite extinct here, and 
will soon become unknown in the country to the south. It feeds 
almost entirely on grasses, and is of a timid, unsuspecting dispo- 
sition : this renders it an easy prey, and they are slaughtered 
without mercy on the introduction of fire-arms. The black pos- 
sesses a more savage nature, and, like the ill-natured in general, is 
never found with an ounce of fat in its body. From its greater 
fierceness and wariness, it holds its place in a district much longer 
than its more timid and better-conditioned neighbor. Mr. Oswell 
was once stalking two of these beasts, and, as they came slowly to 
him, he, knowing that there is but little chance of hitting the 
small brain of this animal by a shot in the head, lay expecting 
one of them to give his shoulder till he was within a few yards. 



THE RHINOCEROS. 655 

The hunter then thought that hj making a rush to his side he 
might succeed in escaping, hut the rhinoceros, too quick for that, 
turned upon him, and, though he discharged his gun close to the 
animal's head, he was tossed in the air. My friend Avas insensi- 
ble for some time, and, on recovering, found large wounds on the 
thigh and body : I saw that on the former part still open, and 
five inches long. The white, however, is not always quite safe*, 
for one, even after it was mortally wounded, attacked Mr. Os- 
well's horse, and thrust the horn through to the saddle, tossing 
at the time both horse and rider. I once saw a white rhinoceros 
give a buffalo, which was gazing intently at myself, a poke in the 
chest, but it did not wound it, and seemed only a hint to get 
out of the way. Four varieties of the rhinoceros are enumerated 
by naturalists, but my observation led me to conclude that 
there are but two, and that the extra species have been formed 
from differences in their sizes, ages, and the direction of the horns, 
as if we should reckon the short-horned cattle a different species 
from the Alderneys or the Highland breed. I was led to this 
from having once seen a black rhinoceros with a horn bent down- 
ward like that of the kuabaoba, and also because the animals 
of the two great varieties differ very much in appearance at dif- 
ferent stages of their growth. I find, however, that Dr. Smith, 
the best judge in these matters, is quite decided as to the propri- 
ety of the subdivision into three or four species. For common 
readers, it is sufficient to remember that there are two well-de- 
fined species, that differ entirely in appearance and food. The 
absence of both these rhinoceroses among the reticulated rivers 
in the central valley may easily be accounted for, they would be 
such an easy prey to the natives in their canoes at the periods of 
inundation ; but one can not so readily account for the total absence 
of the giraffe and ostrich on the high open lands of the Batoka, 
north of the Zambesi, unless we give credence to the native report 
which bounds the country still farther north by another network 
of waters near Lake Shuia, and suppose that it also prevented their 
progress southward. The Batoka have no name for the giraffe 
or the ostrich in their language ; yet, as the former exists in con- 
siderable numbers in the angle formed by the Leeambye and 
Chobe, they may have come from the north along the western 
ridge. The Chobe would seem to have been too narrow to act as 



QQQ CONFINEMENT OF THE KORWE. 

an obstacle to the giraffe, supposing it to have come into that dis- 
trict from the south ; hut the broad river into which that stream 
flows seems always to have presented an impassable barrier to 
both the giraffe and the ostrich, though they abound on its 
southern border, both in the Kalahari Desert and the country of 
Mashona. 

We passed through large tracts of Mopane country, and my 
men caught a great many of the birds called Korwe ( Tockus ery- 
throrhynchus) in their breeding -places, which were in holes in 
the mopane-trees. On the 19th we passed the nest of a korwe 
just ready for the female to enter; the orifice was plastered on 
both sides, but a space was left of a heart shape, and exactly the 
size of the bird's body. The hole in the tree was in every case 
found to be prolonged some distance upward above the opening, 
and thither the korwe always fled to escape being caught. In 
another nest we found that one white egg, much like that of a 
pigeon, was laid, and the bird dropped another when captured. 
She had four besides in the ovarium. The first time that I saw 
this bird was at Kolobeng, where I had gone to the forest for some 
timber. Standing by a tree, a native looked behind me and ex- 
claimed, " There is the nest of a korwe." I saw a slit only, about 
half an inch wide and three or four inches long, in a slight hollow 
of the tree. Thinking the word korwe denoted some small 
animal, I waited with interest to see what he would extract ; he 
broke the clay which surrounded the slit, put his arm into the 
hole, and brought out a Tockus, or red-beaked hornhill, which 
he killed. He informed me that, when the female enters her 
nest, she submits to a real confinement. The male plasters up 
the entrance, leaving only a narrow slit by which to feed his 
mate, and which exactly suits the form of his beak. The fe- 
male makes a nest of her own feathers, lays her eggs, hatches 
them, and remains with the young till they are fully fledged. 
During all this time, which is stated to be two or three months, 
the male continues to feed her and the young family. The pris- 
oner generally becomes quite fat, and is esteemed a very dainty 
morsel by the natives, while the poor slave of a husband gets so 
lean that, on the sudden lowering of the temperature which some- 
times happens after a fall of rain, he is benumbed, falls down, 
and dies. I never had an opportunity of ascertaining the actual 



HONEY AND WAX. 657 

length of the confinement, hut on passing the same tree at Kolo- 
beng about eight days afterward the hole was plastered up again, 
as if, in the short time that had elapsed, the disconsolate hus- 
band had secured another wife. We did not disturb her, and 
my duties prevented me from returning to the spot. This is 
the month in which the female enters the nest. We had seen 
one of these, as before mentioned, with the plastering not quite 
finished ; we saw many completed ; and we received the very 
same account here that we did at Kolobeng, that the bird comes 
forth when the young are fully fledged, at the period when the 
corn is ripe ; indeed, her appearance abroad with her young is 
one of the signs they have for knowing when it ought to be so. 
As that is about the end of April, the time is between two and 
three months. She is said sometimes to hatch two eggs, and, 
when the young of these are full-fledged, other two are just out 
of the egg-shells : she then leaves the nest with the two elder, the 
orifice is again plastered up, and both male and female attend to 
the wants of the young which are left. On several occasions I 
observed a branch bearing the marks of the male having often 
sat upon it when feeding his mate, and the excreta had been ex- 
pelled a full yard from the orifice, and often proved a means of 
discovering the retreat. 

The honey-guides were very assiduous in their friendly offices, 
and enabled my men to get a large quantity of honey. But, 
though bees abound, the wax of these parts forms no article of 
trade. In Londa it may be said to be fully cared for, as you find 
hives placed upon trees in the most lonesome forests. We often 
met strings of carriers laden with large blocks of this substance, 
each 80 or 100 lbs. in weight, and pieces were offered to us for 
sale at every village ; but here we never saw a single artificial 
hive. The bees were always found in the natural cavities of mo- 
pane-trees. It is probable that the good market for wax afforded 
to Angola by the churches of Brazil led to the gradual develop- 
ment of that branch of commerce there. I saw even on the banks 
of the Quango as much as sixpence paid for a pound. In many 
parts of the Batoka country bees exist in vast numbers, and 
the tribute due to Sekeletu is often paid in large jars of honey ; 
but, having no market nor use for the wax, it is thrown away. 
This was the case also with ivory at the Lake Ngami, at the 

Tt 



658 SLOW TEAVELING. 

period of its discovery. The reports brought by my other party 
from Loanda of the value of wax had induced some of my present 
companions to bring small quantities of it to Tete, but, not know- 
ing the proper mode of preparing it, it was so dark colored that 
no one would purchase it ; I afterward saw a little at Kilimane 
which had been procured from the natives somewhere in this re- 
gion. 

Though we are now approaching the Portuguese settlement, 
the country is still full of large game. My men killed six buffalo 
calves out of a herd we met. The abundance of these animals, 
and also of antelopes, shows the insufficiency of the bow and arrow 
to lessen their numbers. There are also a great many lions and 
hyaenas, and there is no check upon the increase of the former, for 
the people, believing that the souls of their chiefs enter into 
them, never attempt to kill them ; they even believe that a chief 
may metamorphose himself into a lion, kill any one he chooses, 
and then return to the human form ; therefore, when they see one, 
they commence clapping their hands, which is the usual mode 
of salutation here. The consequence is, that lions and hyasnas 
are so abundant that we see little huts made in the trees, indicat- 
ing the places where some of the inhabitants have slept when be- 
nighted in the fields. As numbers of my men frequently left the 
line of march in order to take out the korwes from their nests, or 
follow the honey-guides, they excited the astonishment of our 
guides, who were constantly warning them of the danger they 
thereby incurred from lions. I was often considerably ahead of 
the main body of my men on this account, and was obliged to 
stop every hour or two ; but, the sun being excessively hot by 
day, I was glad of the excuse for resting. We could make no 
such prodigious strides as officers in the Arctic regions are able to 
do. Ten or twelve miles a day were a good march for both the 
.men and myself; and it was not the length of the marches, but 
continuing day after day to perform the same distance, that was 
so fatiguing. It was in this case much longer than appears on the 
map, because we kept out of the way of villages. I drank less 
than the natives when riding, but all my clothing was now con- 
stantly damp from the moisture which was imbibed in large quan- 
tities at «very pond. One does not stay on these occasions to 
prepare water with alum or any thing else, but drinks any amount 



GRAPES.— THE UE. g59 

without fear. I never felt the atmosphere so steamy as on the 
low-lying lands of the Zambesi, and yet it was hecoming cooler 
than it was on the highlands. 

We crossed the rivulets Kapopo and Ue, now running, but usu- 
ally dry. There are great numbers of wild grape-vines growing 
in this quarter ; indeed, they abound every where along the banks 
of the Zambesi. In the Batoka country there is a variety which 
yields a black grape of considerable sweetness. The leaves are 
very large and harsh, as if capable of withstanding the rays of 
this hot sun ; but the most common kinds — one with a round 
leaf and a greenish grape, and another with a leaf closely resem- 
bling that of the cultivated varieties, and with dark or purple 
fruit — have large seeds, which are strongly astringent, and render 
it a disagreeable fruit. The natives eat all the varieties ; and I 
tasted vinegar made by a Portuguese from these grapes. Proba- 
bly a country which yields the wild vines so very abundantly 
might be a fit one for the cultivated species. At this part of the 
journey so many of the vines had run across the little footpath 
we followed that one had to be constantly on the watch to avoid 
being tripped. The ground was covered with rounded shingle, 
which was not easily seen among the grass. Pedestrianism may 
be all very well for those whose obesity requires much exercise, 
but for one who was becoming as thin as a lath, through the con- 
stant perspiration caused by marching day after day in the hot 
sun, the only good I saw in it was that it gave an honest sort of 
man a vivid idea of the tread-mill. 

Although the rains were not quite over, great numbers of pools 
were drying up, and the ground was in many parts covered with 
small green cryptogamous plants, which gave it a mouldy appear- 
ance and a strong smell. As we sometimes pushed aside the 
masses of rank vegetation which hung over our path, we felt a sort 
of hot blast on our faces. Every thing looked unwholesome, but 
we had no fever. The Ue flows between high banks of a soft red 
sandstone streaked with white, and pieces of tufa. The crumbling 
sandstone is evidently alluvial, and is cut into 12 feet deep. In 
this region, too, we met with pot-holes six feet deep and three or 
four in diameter. In some cases they form convenient wells ; in 
others they are full of earth ; and in others still the people have 
made them into graves for their chiefs. 



660 NATIVE NAMES. 

On the 20tli we came to Monina's village (close to the sand- 
river Tangwe, latitude 16° 13^ 38'^ south, longitude 32° 32' east). 
This man is very popular among the tribes on account of his lib- 
erality. Boroma, Nyampungo, Monina, Jira, Katolosa (Monomo- 
tapa), and Susa, all acknowledge the supremacy of one called Ny- 
atewe, who is reported to decide all disputes respecting land. This 
confederation is exactly similar to what we observed in Londa 
and other parts of Africa. Katolosa is "the Emperor Monomo- 
tapa" of history, but he is a chief of no great power, and acknowl- 
edges the supremacy of Nyatewe. The Portuguese formerly hon- 
ored Monomotapa with a guard, to fire oif numbers of guns on 
the occasion of any funeral, and he was also partially subsidized. 
The only evidence of greatness possessed by his successor is his 
having about a hundred wives. When he dies a disputed suc- 
cession and much fighting are expected. In reference to the term 
Monomotapa, it is to be remembered that Mono, Moene, Mona, 
Mana, or Morena, mean simply chiefs and considerable confusion 
has arisen from naming different people by making a plural of the 
chief's name. The names Monomoizes, spelled also Monemuiges 
and Monomuizes, and Monomotapistas, when applied to these 
tribes, are exactly the same as if we should call the Scotch the 
Lord Douglases. Motape was the chief of the Bambiri, a tribe 
of the Banyai, and is now represented in the person of Katolosa. 
He was probably a man of greater energy than his successor, yet 
only an insignificant chief. Monomoizes was formed from Moiza 
or Muiza, the singular of the word Babisa or Aiza, the proper 
name of a large tribe to the north. In the transformation of this 
name the same error has been committed as in the others ; and 
mistakes have occurred in many other names by inattention to 
the meaning, and predilection for the letter r. The River Lo- 
angwa, for instance, has been termed Arroangoa, and the Luen- 
ya the Ruanha. The Bazizulu, or Mashona, are spoken of as the 
Morururus. 

The government of the Banyai is rather peculiar, being a sort 
of feudal republicanism. The chief is elected, and they choose 
the son of the deceased chief's sister in preference to his own 
offspring. When dissatisfied with one candidate, they even go to 
a distant tribe for a successor, who is usually of the family of the 
late chief, a brother, or a sister's son, but never his own son or 



GOVERNMENT OF THE BANYAI. QQi 

daughter. When first spoken to on the subject, he answers as 
if he tliought himself unequal to the task and unworthy of the 
honor ; but, having accepted it, all the wives, goods, and children 
of his predecessor belong to him, and he takes care to keep 
them in a dependent position. When any one of them becomes 
tired of this state of vassalage and sets up his own village, it is 
not unusual for the elected chief to send a number of the youns; 
men, who congregate about himself, to visit him. If he does 
not receive them with the usual amount of clapping of hands 
and humility, they, in obedience to orders, at once burn his vil- 
lage. The children of the chief have fewer privileges than com- 
mon free men. They may not be sold, but, rather than choose 
any one of them for a chief at any future time, the free men 
would prefer to elect one of themselves, who bore only a very 
distant relationship to the family. These free men are a distinct 
class who can never be sold ; and under them there is a class of 
slaves whose appearance as well as position is very degraded. 
Monina had a great number of young men about him from twelve 
to fifteen years of age. These were all sons of free men, and 
bands of young men like them in the different districts leave 
their parents about the age of puberty, and live with such men 
as Monina for the sake of instruction. When I asked the nature 
of the instruction, I was told "Bonyai," whicli I suppose may be 
understood as indicating manhood, for it sounds as if we should 
say, "to teach an American Americanism," or "an Englishman 
to be English." While here they are kept in subjection to rath- 
er stringent regulations. They must salute carefully by clap- 
ping their hands on approaching a superior, and when any cooked 
food is brought, the young men may not approach the dish, but 
an elder divides a portion to each. They remain unmarried un- 
til a fresh set of youths is ready to occupy their place under the 
same instruction. The parents send servants with their sons to 
cultivate gardens to supply them with food, and also tusks to 
Monina to purchase clothing for them. When the lads return to 
the village of their parents, a case is submitted to them for adju- 
dication, and if they speak well on the point, the parents are high- 
ly gratified. 

When we told Monina that we had nothing to present but 
some hoes, he replied that he was not in need of those articles, 



662 INSANITY AND DISAPPEAEANCE OF MONAHIN. 

and that he had absolute power over the country in front, and 
if he prevented us from proceeding, no one would say any thing 
to him. His little hoy Boromo having come to the encamp- 
ment to look at us, I gave him a knife, and he went off and 
brought a pint of honey for me. The father came soon after- 
ward, and I offered him a shirt. He remarked to his council- 
ors, "It is evident that this man has nothing, for, if he had, 
his people would be buying provisions, but we don't see them 
going about for that purpose." His council did not agree in 
this. They evidently believed that we had goods, but kept them 
hid, and we felt it rather hard to be suspected of falsehood. It 
was probably at their suggestion that in the evening a war- 
dance was got up about a hundred yards from our encampment, 
as if to put us in fear and force us to bring forth presents. Some 
of Monina's young men had guns, but most were armed with 
large bows, arrows, and spears. They beat their drums furi- 
ously, and occasionally fired off a gun. As this sort of dance 
is never got up unless there is an intention to attack, my men 
expected an assault. We sat and looked at them for some time, 
and then, as it became dark, lay down, all ready to give them a 
warm reception. But an hour or two after dark the dance 
ceased, and, as we then saw no one approaching us, we went to 
sleep. During the night, one of my head men, Monahin, was 
seen to get up, look toward the village, and say to one who was 
half awake, "Don't you hear what these people are saying? 
Go and listen." He then walked off in the opposite direction, 
and never returned. We had no guard set, but every one lay 
with his spear in his hand. The man to whom he spoke appears 
to have been in a dreamy condition, for it did not strike him 
that he ought to give the alarm. Next morning I found to my 
sorrow that Monahin was gone, and not a trace of him could be 
discovered. He had an attack of pleuritis some weeks before, 
and had recovered, but latterly complained a little of his head. 
I observed him in good spirits on the way hither, and in cross- 
ing some of the streams, as I was careful not to wet my feet, he 
aided me, and several times joked at my becoming so light. In 
the evening he sat beside my tent until it was dark, and did not , 
manifest any great alarm. It was probably either a sudden fit 
of insanity, or, having gone a little way out from the camp, he 



SAND-EIVER TANGWE. g65 

may have been carried off by a lion, as this part of the country is 
full of them. I incline to the former opinion, because sudden in- 
sanity occurs when there is any unusual strain upon their minds. 
Monahin was in command of the Batoka of Mokwine in my par- 
ty, and he was looked upon with great dislike by all that chief's 
subjects. The only difficulties I had with them arose in conse- 
quence of being obliged to give orders through him. They said 
Mokwine is reported to have been killed by the Makololo, but 
Monahin is the individual who put forth his hand and slew him. 
When one of these people kills in battle, he seems to have no 
compunction afterward; but when he makes a foray on his own 
responsibility, and kills a man of note, the common people make 
remarks to each other, which are reported to him, and bring the 
affair perpetually to his remembrance. This iteration on the 
conscience causes insanity, and when one runs away in a wide 
country lik'e this, the fugitive is never heard of. Monahin had 
lately become afraid of his own party from overhearing their re- 
marks, and said more than once to me, " They want to kill me." 
I believe if he ran to any village they would take care of him. I 
felt his loss greatly, and spent three days in searching for him. 
He was a sensible and most obliging man. I sent in the morn- 
ing to inform Monina of this sad event, and he at once sent to all 
the gardens around, desiring the people to look for him, and, 
should he come near, to bring him home. He evidently sympa- 
thized with us in our sorrow, and, afraid lest we might suspect 
him, added, " We never catch nor kidnap people here. It is not 
our custom. It is considered as guilt among all the tribes." I 
gave hira credit for truthfulness, and he allowed us to move on 
without farther molestation. 

After leaving his village we marched in the bed of a sand- 
river a quarter of a mile broad, called Tangwe. Walking on this 
sand is as fatiguing as walking on snow. The country is flat, 
and covered with low trees, but we see high hills in the distance. 
A little to the south we have those of the Lobole. This region 
is very much infested by lions, and men never go any distance 
into the woods alone. Having turned aside on one occasion at 
midday, and gone a short distance among grass a little taller 
than myself, an animal sprung away from me which was certainly 
not an antelope, but I could not distinguish whether it was a lion 



QQQ THE OEDEAL MUAVI. 

or a hy^na. This abundance of carnivora made us lose all hope 
of Monahin. We saw footprints of many black rhinoceroses, buf- 
faloes, and zebras. 

After a few hours we reached the village of Nyakoba. Two 
men, who accompanied us from Monina to Nyakoba's, would not 
believe us when we said that we had no beads. It is very try- 
ing to have one's veracity doubted, but, on opening the boxes, 
and showing them that all I had was perfectly useless to them, 
they consented to receive some beads off Sekwebu's waist, and I 
promised to send four yards of calico from Tete. As we came 
away from Monina's village, a witch-doctor, who had been sent 
for, arrived, and all Monina's wives went forth into the fields 
that morning fasting. There they would be -compelled to drink 
an infusion of a plant named " goho," which is used as an ordeal. 
This ceremony is called "muavi," and is performed in this way. 
When a man suspects that any of his wives has bewitched him, 
he sends for the witch-doctor, and all the wives go forth into the 
field, and remain fasting till that person has made an infusion 
of the plant. They all drink it, each one holding up her hand 
to heaven in attestation of her innocency. Those who vomit it 
are considered innocent, while those whom it purges are pro- 
nounced guilty, and put to death by burning. The innocent 
return to their homes, and slaughter a cock as a thank-offering 
to their guardian spirits. The practice of ordeal is common 
among all the negro nations north of the Zambesi. This sum- 
mary procedure excited my surprise, for my intercourse with the 
natives here had led me to believe that the women were held in 
so much estimation that the men would not dare to get rid of 
them thus. But the explanation I received was this. The 
slightest imputation makes them eagerly desire the test ; they 
are conscious of being innocent, and have the fullest faith in the 
muavi detecting the guilty alone ; hence they go willingly, and 
even eagerly, to drink it. When in Angola, a half-caste was 
pointed out to me who is one of the most successful merchants 
in that country; and the mother of this gentleman, who was 
perfectly free, went, of her own accord, all the way from Am- 
baca to Cassange, to be killed by the ordeal, her rich son 
making no objection. The same custom prevails among the 
Barotse, Bashubia, and Batoka, but with slight variations. The 



WOMAN'S RIGHTS. 667 

Barotse, for instance, pour the medicine down the throat of a 
cock or of a dog, and judge of the innocence or guilt of the 
person accused according to the vomiting or purging of the ani- 
mal. I happened to mention to my own men the water-test for 
witches formerly in use in Scotland : the supposed witch, being 
bound hand and foot, was thrown into a pond ; if she floated, she 
was considered guilty, taken out, and burned ; but if she sank 
and was drowned, she was pronounced innocent. The wisdom 
of my ancestors excited as much wonder in their minds as their 
custom did in mine. 

The person whom Nyakoba appointed to be our guide, having 
informed us of the decision, came and bargained that his services 
should be rewarded with a hoe. I had no objection to give it, 
and showed him the article ; he was delighted with it, and went 
off to show it to his wife. He soon afterward returned, and 
said that, though he was perfectly willing to go, his wife would 
not let him. I said, "Then bring back the hoe;" but he re- 
plied, "I want it." "Well, go with us, and you shall have it." 
"But my wife won't let me." I remarked to my men, "Did 
you ever hear such a fool?" They answered, "Oh, that is the 
custom of these parts ; the wives are the masters." And Sek- 
webu informed me that he had gone to this man's house, and 
heard him saying to his wife, " Do you think that I would ever 
leave you ?" then, turning to Sekwebu, he asked, " Do you think 
I would leave this pretty woman? Is she not pretty?" Sek- 
webu had been making inquiries among the people, and had 
found that the women indeed possessed a great deal of ihflu- 
ence. We questioned the guide whom we finally got from Nya- 
koba, an intelligent young man, who had much of the Arab fea- 
tures, and found the statements confirmed. When a young man 
takes a liking for a girl of another village, and the parents have 
no objection to the match, he is obliged to come and live at their 
village. He has to perform certain services for the mother-in- 
law, such as keeping her well supplied with firewood ; and when 
he comes into her presence he is obliged to sit with his knees 
in a bent position, as putting out his feet toward the old lady 
would give her great offense. If he becomes tired of living in 
this state of vassalage, and wishes to return to his own family, he 
is obliged to leave all his children behind — they belong to the 



668 WOMAN'S EIGHTS. 

wife. This is only a more stringent enforcement of the law 
from which emanates the practice which prevails so very exten- 
sively in Africa, known to Europeans as " buying wives." Such 
virtually it is, but it does not appear quite in that light to the 
actors. So many head of cattle or goats are given to the parents 
of the girl "to give her up," as it is termed, i. e., to forego all 
claim on her offspring, and allow an entire transference of her 
and her seed into another family. If nothing is given, the family 
from which she has come can claim the children as part of 
itself: the payment is made to sever this bond. In the case 
supposed, the young man has not been able to advance any thing 
for that purpose ; and, from the temptations placed here before 
my men, I have no doubt that some prefer to have their daugh- 
ters married in that way, as it leads to the increase of their 
own village. My men excited the admiration of the Bam- 
biri, who took them for a superior breed on account of their 
bravery in elephant-hunting, and wished to get them as sons- 
in-law on the conditions named, but none yielded to the tempt- 
ation. 

We were informed that there is a child belonging to a half- 
caste Portuguese in one of these tribes, and the father had 
tried in vain to get him from the mother's parents. We saw 
several things to confirm the impression of the higher position 
which women hold here ; and, being anxious to discover if I 
were not mistaken, when we came among the Portuguese I 
inquired of them, and was told that they had ascertained the 
same thing ; and that, if they wished a man to perform any 
service for them, he would reply, "Well, I shall go -and ask 
my wife." If she consented, he would go, and perform his 
duty faithfully ; but no amount of coaxing or bribery would 
induce him to do it if she refused. The Portuguese praised 
the appearance of the Banyai, and they certainly are a fine 
race. 

We got on better with Nyakoba than we expected. He has 
been so much affected by the sesenda that he is quite decrepit, 
and requires to be fed. I at once showed his messenger that 
we had nothing whatever to give. Nyakoba was offended with 
him for not believing me, and he immediately sent a basket of 
maize and another of corn, saying that he believed my state- 



THE BANYAI. QQQ 

ment, and would send men with me to Tete who would not lead 
me to any other village. 

The birds here sing very sweetly, and I thought I heard the 
canary, as in Londa. We had a heavy shower of rain, and I 
observed that the thermometer sank 14° in one hour afterward. 
From the beginning of February we experienced a sensible 
diminution of temperature. In January the lowest was 75°, 
and that at sunrise ; the average at the same hour (sunrise) 
being 79° ; at 3 P.M., 90° ; and at sunset, 82°. In February 
it fell as low as 70° in the course of the night, and the average 
height was 88°. Only once did it rise to 94°, and a thunder- 
storm followed this ; yet the sensation of heat was greater now 
than it had been at much higher temperatures on more elevated 
lands. 

We passed several villages by going roundabout ways through 
the forest. We saw the remains of a lion that had been killed by 
a buffalo, and the horns of a putokwane (black antelope), the finest 
I had ever seen, which had met its death by a lion. The drums, 
beating all night in one village near which we slept, showed that 
some person in it had finished his course. On the occasion of 
the death of a chief, a trader is liable to be robbed, for the 
people consider themselves not amenable to law until a new 
one is elected. We continued a very winding course, in order 
to avoid the chief Katolosa, who is said to levy large sums 
upon those who fall into his hands. One of our guides was a 
fine, tall young man, the very image of Ben Habib the Arab. 
They were carrying dried buffalo's meat to the market at Tete 
as a private speculation. 

A great many of the Banyai are of a light coffee-and-milk col- 
or, and, indeed, this color is considered handsome throughout the 
whole country, a fair complexion being as much a test of beauty 
with them as with us. As they draw out their hair into small 
cords a foot in length, and entwine the inner bark of a certain 
tree round each separate cord, and dye this substance of a red- 
dish color, many of them put me in mind of the ancient Egyp- 
tians. The great mass of dressed hair which they possess reach- 
es to the shoulders, but when they intend to travel they draw it 
up to a bunch, and tie it on the top of the head. They are clean- 
ly in their habits. 



670 FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 

As we did not come near human habitations, and could only 
take short stages on account of the illness of one of my men, I 
had an opportunity of observing the expedients my party resorted 
to in order to supply their wants. Large white edible mushrooms 
are found on the ant-hills, and are very good. The mokuri, a 
tuber which abounds in the Mopane country, they discovered by 
percussing the ground with stones ; and another tuber, about the 
size of a turnip, called "bonga," is found in the same situations. 
It does not determine to the joints like the mokuri, and in winter 
has a sensible amount of salt in it. A fruit called "ndongo" 
by the Makololo, "dongolo" by the Bambiri, resembles in ap- 
pearance a small plum, which becomes black when ripe, and is 
good food, as the seeds are small. Many trees are known by 
tradition, and one receives curious bits of information in asking 
about different fruits that are met with. A tree named " sheka- 
bakadzi" is superior to all others for making fire by friction. As 
its name implies, women may even readily make fire by it when 
benighted. 

The country here is covered over with well-rounded shingle 
and gravel of granite, gneiss with much talc in it, mica schist, 
and other rocks which we saw i7i situ between the Kafue and 
Loangwa. There are great mounds of soft red sand slightly 
coherent, which crumble in the hand with ease. The gravel and 
the sand drain away the water so effectually that the trees are 
exposed to the heat during a portion of the year without any 
moisture; hence they are not large, like those on the Zambesi, 
and are often scrubby. The rivers are all of the sandy kind, 
and we pass over large patches between this and Tete in which, 
in the dry season, no water is to be found. Close on our south, 
the hills of Lokole rise to a considerable height, and beyond them 
flows the Mazoe with its golden sands. The great numbers of 
pot-holes on the sides of sandstone ridges, when viewed in con- 
nection with the large banks of rolled shingle and washed sand 
which are met with on this side of the eastern ridge, may indicate 
that the sea in former times rolled its waves along its flanks. 
Many of the hills between the Kafue and Loangwa have their 
sides of the form seen in mud banks left by the tide. The pot- 
holes appear most abundant on low gray sandstone ridges here; 
and as the shingle is composed of the same rocks as the hills west 



PURSUED BY NATIVES. 671 

of Zumbo, it looks as if a current had dashed along from the south- 
east in the line in which the pot-holes now appear ; and if the cur- 
rent was deflected by those hills toward the Maravi country, north 
of Tete, it may have hollowed the rounded, water-worn caverns 
in which these people store their corn, and also hide themselves 
from their enemies. I could detect no terraces on the land, but, 
if I am right in my supposition, the form of this part of the con- 
tinent must once have resembled the curves or indentations seen 
on the southern extremity of the American continent. In the 
indentation to the S.E., S., S.W., and W. of this, lie the principal 
gold-washings ; and the line of the current, supposing it to have 
struck against the hills of Mburuma, shows the washings in the 
N. and N.E. of Tete. 

We were tolerably successful in avoiding the villages, and slept 
one night on the flanks of the hill Zimika, where a great number 
of deep pot-holes aflbrded an abundant supply of good rain-water. 
Here, for the first time, we saw hills with bare, smooth, rocky tops, 
and we crossed over broad dikes of gneiss and syenitic porphyry : 
the directions in which they lay were N. and S. As we were now 
near to Tete, we were congratulating ourselves on having avoided 
those who would only have plagued us ; but next morning some 
men saw us, and ran off to inform the neighboring villages of our 
passing. A party immediately pursued us, and, as they knew 
we were within call of Katolosa (Monomotapa), they threatened 
to send information to that chief of our offense, in passing 
through the country without leave. We were obliged to give 
them two small tusks ; for, had they told Katolosa of our supposed 
offense, we should, in all probability, have lost the whole. We 
then went through a very rough, stony country without any path. 
Being pretty well tired out in the evening of the 2d of March, 
I remained at about eight miles distance from Tete, Tette, or 
Nyungwe. My men asked me to go on ; I felt too fatigued to 
proceed, but sent forward to the commandant the letters of 
recommendation with which I had been favored in Angola by 
the bishop and others, and lay down to rest. Our food having 
been exhausted, my men had been subsisting for some time on 
roots and honey. About two o'clock in the morning of the 3d 
we were aroused by two officers and a company of soldiers, who 
had been sent with the materials for a civilized breakfast and a 



672 AERIVAL AT TETE. 

"masheela" to bring me to Tete. (Commandant's house: lat. 
16° 9' 3'^ S., long. 33° 28" E.) My companions thought that 
we were captured hy the armed men, and called me in alarm. 
When I understood the errand on which they had come, and 
had partaken of a good breakfast, though I had just before been 
too tired to sleep, all my fatigue vanished. It was the most re- 
freshing breakfast I ever partook of, and I walked the last eight 
miles without the least feeling of weariness, although the path 
was so rough that one of the officers remarked to me, " This is 
enough to tear a man's life out of him." The pleasure experi- 
enced in partaking of that breakfast was only equaled by the en- 
joyment of Mr. Gabriel's bed on my arrival at Loanda. It was 
also enhanced by the news that Sebastopol had fallen and the 
war was finished. 

Note. — Having neglected, in referring to the footprints of the rhinoceros, to 
mention what may be interesting to naturalists, I add it here in a note ; that 
wherever the footprints are seen, there are also marks of the animal having plowed 
up the ground and bushes with his horn. This has been supposed to indicate 
that he is subject to "fits of ungovernable rage;" but, when seen, he appears 
rather to be rejoicing in his strength. He acts as a bull sometimes does when he 
gores the earth with his horns. The rhinoceros, in addition to this, stands on a 
clump of bushes, bends his back down, and scrapes the ground with his feet, 
throwing it out backward, as if to stretch and clean his toes, in the same way that 
a dog may be seen to do on a little grass : this is certainly not rage. 



GENEROSITY OF THE COMMANDANT. 673 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Kind Eeception from the Commandant. — His Generosity to my Men. — The Vil- 
lage of Tete. — The Population. — Distilled Spirits. — The Fort. — Cause of the De- 
cadence of Portuguese Power. — Former Trade. — Slaves employed in Gold-wash- 
ing. — Slave-trade drained the Country of Laborers. — The Rebel Nyaude's Stock- 
ade. — He burns Tete. — Kisaka's Revolt and Ravages. — Extensive Field of Sugar- 
cane. — The Commandant's good Reputation among the Natives. — Providential 
Guidance. — Seams of Coal. — A hot Spring. — Picturesque Country. — Water-car- 
riage to the Coal-fields. — "Workmen's Wages. — Exports. — Price of Provisions. — 
Visit Gold-washings. — The Process of obtaining the precious Metal. — Coal within 
a Gold-field. — Present from Major Sicard. — Natives raise Wheat, etc. — Liberal- 
ity of the Commandant. — Geographical Information from Senhor Candido. — 
Earthquakes. — Native Ideas of a Supreme Being. — Also of the Immortality and 
Transmigration of Souls. — Fondness for Display at Funerals. — Trade Restri&- 
tions. — Former Jesuit Establishment. — State of Religion and Education at Tete. 
— Inundation of the Zambesi. — Cotton cultivated. — The fibrous Plants Conge 
and Buaze. — Detained by Fever. — The Kumbanzo Bark, — Native Medicines. — 
Iron, its Quality. — Hear of Famine at Kilimane. — Death of a Portuguese Lady. 
— The Funeral. — Disinterested Kindness of the Portuguese. 

I WAS most kindly received by the commandant Tito Augusto 
d'Araujo Sicard, who did every thing in his power to restore me 
from my emaciated condition ; and, as this was still the unhealthy 
period at Kilimane, he advised me to remain with him until the 
following month. He also generously presented my men with 
abundant provisions of millet ; and, by giving them lodgings in a 
house of his own until they could erect their own huts, he pre- 
served them from the bite of the tampans, here named Carapatos.* 
We had heard frightful accounts of this insect while among the 

* Another insect, resembling a maggot, burrows into the feet of the natives 
and sucks their blood. Mr. Westwood says, "The tampan is a large species of 
mite, closely allied to the poisonous bug (as it is called) of Persia, Argos rejiexus, 
respecting which such marvelous accounts have been recorded, and which the 
statement respecting the carapato or tampan would partially confirm." Mr. W. 
also thinks that the poison-yielding larva called N'gwa is a *' species of chryso- 
melidaa. The larvis of the British species of that family exude a fetid yellow 
thickish fluid when alarmed, but he has not heard that any of them are at all 
poisonous." 

Uu 



674 TETE : ITS POPULATION. 

Banyai, and Major Sicard assured me that to strangers its Ibite is 
more especially dangerous, as it sometimes causes fatal fever. It 
may please our homoeopathic friends to hear that, in curing the hite 
of the tampan, the natives administer one of the insects bruised in 
the medicine employed. 

The village of Tete is built on a long slope down to the river, 
the fort being close to the water. The rock beneath is gray sand- 
stone, and has the appearance of being crushed away from the 
river : the strata have thus a crumpled form. The hollow between 
each crease is a street, the houses being built upon the projecting 
fold. The rocks at the top of the slope are much higher than the 
fort, and of course completely command it. There is then a large 
valley, and beyond that an oblong hill called Karueira. The 
whole of the adjacent country is rocky and broken, but every 
available spot is under cultivation. The stone houses in Tete 
are cemented with mud instead of lime, and thatched with reeds 
and grass. The rains, having washed out the mud between the 
stones, give all the houses a rough, untidy appearance. No lime 
was known to be found nearer than Mozambique ; some used in 
making seats in the verandas had actually been brought all that 
distance. The Portuguese evidently knew nothing of the pink 
and white marbles which I found at the Mbai, and another rivu- 
let, named the Unguesi, near it, and of which I brought home 
specimens, nor yet of the dolomite which lies so near to Zumbo : 
they might have burned the marble into lime without going so far 
as Mozambique. • There are about thirty European houses ; the 
rest are native, and of wattle and daub. A wall about ten feet 
high is intended to inclose the village, but most of the native in- 
habitants prefer to live on different spots outside. There are 
about twelve hundred huts in all, which with European households 
would give a population of about four thousand five hundred 
souls. Only a small proportion of these, however, live on the 
spot ; the majority are engaged in agricultural operations in the 
adjacent country. Generally there are not more than two thou- 
sand people resident, for, compared with what it was, Tete is now 
a ruin. The number of Portuguese is very small ; if we exclude 
the military, it is under twenty. Lately, however, one hundred 
and five soldiers were sent from Portugal to Senna, where in one 
year twenty-five were cut off by fever. They were then removed 



DECADENCE OF POKTUGUESE POWER. 675 

to Tete, and here they enjoy much better health, though, from the 
abundance of spirits distilled from various plants, wild fruits, and 
grain, in which pernicious beverage they largely indulge, besides 
partaking chiefly of unwholesome native food, better health could 
scarcely have been expected. The natives here understand the 
method of distillation by means of gun-barrels, and a succession 
of earthen pots tilled with water to keep them cool. The general 
report of the fever here is that, while at Kilimane the fever is con- 
tinuous, at Tete a man recovers in about three days. The mild- 
est remedies only are used at first, and, if that period be passed, 
then the more severe. 

The fort of Tete has been the salvation of the Portuguese 
power in this quarter. It is a small square building, with a 
thatched apartment for the residence of the troops ; and, though 
there are but few guns, they are in a much better state than those 
of any fort in the interior of Angola. The cause of the decadence 
of the Portuguese power in this region is simply this : In former 
times, considerable quantities of grain, as wheat, millet, and 
maize, were exported ; also coffee, sugar, oil, and indigo, besides 
gold-dust and ivory. The cultivation of grain was carried on 
by means of slaves, of whom the Portuguese possessed a large 
number. The gold-dust was procured by washing at various 
points on the north, south, and west of Tete. A merchant took 
all his slaves with him to the washings, carrying as much calico 
and other goods as he could muster. On arriving al^the wash- 
ing-place, he made a present to the chief of the value of about a 
pound sterling. The slaves were then divided into parties, each 
headed by a confidential servant, who not only had the super- 
vision of his squad while the washing went on, but bought dust 
from the inhabitants, and made a weekly return to his master. 
When several masters united at one spot, it was called a "Bara," 
and they then erected a temporary church, in which a priest from 
one of the missions performed mass. Both chiefs and people 
were favorable to these visits, because the traders purchased 
grain for the sustenance of the slaves with the goods they had 
brought. They continued at this labor until the whole of the 
goods were expended, and by this means about 130 lbs. of gold 
were annually produced. Probably more than this was actually 
obtained, but, as it was an article easily secreted, this alone was 



g76 TETE PLUNDERED AND BUENED. 

submitted to the authorities for taxation. At present the whole 
amount of gold obtained annually by the Portuguese is from 8 
to 10 lbs. only. When the slave-trade began, it seemed to many 
of the merchants a more speedy mode of becoming rich to sell off 
the slaves than to pursue the slow mode of gold-washing and 
agriculture, and they continued to export them until they had 
neither hands to labor nor to fight for them. It was just the 
story of the goose and the golden egg. The coffee and sugar 
plantations and gold-washings were abandoned, because the labor 
had been exported to the Brazils. Many of the Portuguese then 
followed their slaves, and the government was obliged to pass a 
law to prevent further emigration, which, had it gone on, would 
have depopulated the Portuguese possessions altogether. A clev- 
er man of Asiatic (Goa) and Portuguese extraction, called Ny- 
aude, now built a stockade at the confluence of the Luenya and 
Zambesi ; and when the commandant of Tete sent an officer with 
his company to summon him to his presence, Nyaude asked per- 
mission of the officer to dress himself, which being granted, he 
went into an inner apartment, and the officer ordered his men to 
pile their arms. A drum of war began to beat a note which is 
well known to the inhabitants. Some of the soldiers took the 
alarm on hearing this note, but the officer, disregarding their warn- 
ing, was, with his whole party, in a few minutes disarmed and 
bound hand and foot. The commandant of Tete then armed the 
whole body of slaves and marched against the stockade of Nyaude, 
but when they came near to it there was the Luenya still to cross. 
As they did not effect this speedily, Nyaude dispatched a strong 
party under his son Bonga across the river below the stockade, 
and up the left bank of the Zambesi until they came near to Tete. 
They then attacked Tete, which was wholly undefended save by 
a few soldiers in the fort, plundered and burned the whole town 
except the house of the commandant and a few others, with the 
church and fort. The women and children fled into the church ; 
and it is a remarkable fact that none of the natives of this region 
will ever attack a church. Having rendered Tete a ruin, Bonga 
carried off all the cattle and plunder to his father. News of this 
having been brought to the army before the stockade, a sudden 
panic dispersed the whole ; and as the fugitives took roundabout 
ways in their flight, Katolosa, who had hitherto pretended to be 



NTAUDE AND KISAKA. 577 

friendly with the Portuguese, sent out his men to capture as many 
of them as they could. They killed many for the sake of their 
arms. This is the account which hoth natives and Portuguese 
give of the affair. 

Another half-caste from Macao, called Kisaka or Choutama, on 
the opposite hank of the river, likewise rebelled. His father hav- 
ing died, he imagined that he had been bewitched by the Portu- 
guese, and he therefore plundered and burned all the plantations 
of the rich merchants of Tete on the north bank. As I have be- 
fore remarked, that bank is the most fertile, and there the Portu- 
guese had their villas and plantations to which they daily retired 
from Tete. When these were destroyed the Tete people were 
completely impoverished. An attempt was made to punish this 
rebel, but it was also unsuccessful, and he has lately been par- 
doned by the home government. One point in the narrative of 
this expedition is interesting. They came to a field of sugar-cane 
so large that 4000 men eating it during two days did not finish 
the whole. The Portuguese were thus placed between two ene- 
mies, Nyaude on the right bank and Kisaka on the left, and not 
only so, but Nyaude, having placed his stockade on the point of 
land on the right banks of both the Luenya and Zambesi, and 
washed by both these rivers, could prevent intercourse with the 
sea. The Luenya rushes into the Zambesi with great force when 
the latter is low, and, in coming up the Zambesi, boats must cross 
it and the Luenya separately, even going a little way up that river, 
so as not to be driven away by its current in the bed of the Zam- 
besi, and dashed on the rock which stands on the opposite shore. 
Li coming up to the Luenya for this purpose, all boats and canoes 
came close to the stockade to be robbed. Nyaude kept the Por- 
tuguese shut up in their fort at Tete during two years, and they 
could only get goods sufficient to buy food by sending to Kilimane 
by an overland route along the north bank of the Zambesi. The 
mother country did not in these " Caffre wars" pay the bills, so 
no one either became rich or blamed the missionaries. 

The merchants were unable to engage in trade, and commerce, 
which the slave-trade had rendered stagnant, was now completely 
obstructed. The present commandant of Tete, Major Sicard, hav- 
ing great influence among the natives, from his good character, 
put a stop to the war more than once by his mere presence on 



678 SEAMS OF COAL. 

tlie spot. We heard of him among the Banyai as a man with 
whom they would never fight, because "he had a good heart." 
Had I come down to this coast instead of going to Loanda in 
1853, I should have come among the helligerents while the war 
was still raging, and should probably have been cut oif. My 
present approach was just at the conclusion of the peace ; and 
when the Portuguese authorities here were informed, through the 
kind offices of Lord Clarendon and Count de Lavradio, that I was 
expected to come this way, they all declared that such was the 
existing state of affairs that no European could possibly pass 
through the tribes. Some natives at last came down the river to 
Tete and said, alluding to the sextant and artificial horizon, that 
"the Son of God had come," and that he was "able to take the 
sun down from the heavens and place it under his arm!" Major 
Sicard then felt sure that this was the man mentioned in Lord 
Clarendon's dispatch. 

On mentioning to the commandant that I had discovered a 
small seam of coal, he stated that the Portuguese were already 
aware of nine such seams, and that five of them were on the op- 
posite bank of the river. As soon as I had recovered from my 
fatigue I went to examine them. We proceeded in a boat to the 
mouth of the Lofiibu or Reviibu, which is about two miles be- 
low Tete, and on the opposite or northern bank. Ascending this 
about four miles against a strong current of beautifully clear wa- 
ter, we landed near a small cataract, and walked about two miles 
through very fertile gardens to the seam, which Ave found to be 
in one of the feeders of the Lofubu, called Muatize or Motize. 
The seam is in the perpendicular bank, and dips into the riv- 
ulet, or in a northerly direction. There is, first of all, a seam 
10 inches in diameter, then some shale, below which there is an- 
other seam, 58 inches of which are seen, and, as the bottom 
touches the water of the Muatize, it may be more. This part of 
the seam is about 30 yards long. There is then a fault. About 
100 yards higher up the stream black vesicular trap is seen, pen- 
etrating in thin veins the clay shale of the country, converting it 
into porcellanite, and partially crystallizing the coal with wliich it 
came into contact. On the right bank of the Lofubu there is an- 
other feeder entering that river near its confluence with the Mua- 
tize, which is called the Morongozi, in which there is another and 



HOT SPKINGS. 679 

still larger bed of coal exposed. Farther up tlie Lofubu there 
are other seams in the rivulets Inyavu and Makare ; also several 
spots in the Maravi country have the coal cropping out. This 
has evidently been brought to the surface by volcanic action at a 
later period than the coal formation. 

I also went up the Zambesi, and visited a hot spring called 
Nyamboronda, situated in the bed of a small rivulet named 
Nyaondo, which shows that igneous action is not yet extinct. 
We landed at a small rivulet called Mokorozi, then went a mile 
or two to the eastward, where we found a hot fountain at the 
bottom of a high hill. A little spring bubbles up on one side of 
the rivulet Nyaondo, and a great quantity of acrid steam rises up 
from the ground adjacent, about 12 feet square of which is so 
hot that my companions could not stand on it with their bare 
feet. There are several little holes from which the water trickles, 
Taut the principal spring is in a hole a foot in diameter, and about 
the same in depth. Numbers of bubbles are constantly rising. 
The steam feels acrid in the throat, but is not inflammable, as it 
did not burn when I held a bunch of lighted grass over the bub- 
bles. The mercury rises to 158° when the thermometer is put 
into the water in the hole, but after a few seconds it stands stead- 
ily at 160°. Even when flowing over the stones the water is too 
hot for the hand. Little fish frequently leap out of the stream in 
the bed of which the fountain rises, into the hot water, and get 
scalded to death. We saw a frog which had performed the ex- 
periment, and was now cooked. The stones over which the wa- 
ter flows are incrusted with a white salt, and the water has a sa- 
line taste. The ground has been dug out near the fountain by 
the natives, in order to extract the salt it contains. It is situated 
among rocks of syenitic porphyry in broad dikes, and gneiss tilted 
on edge, and having a strike to the N.E. There are many spec- 
imens of half-formed pumice, with greenstone and lava. Some 
of the sandstone strata are dislocated by a hornblende rock and 
by basalt, the sandstone nearest to the basalt being converted into 
quartz. 

The country around, as indeed all the district lying N. and 
N.W. of Tete, is hilly, and, the hills being covered with trees, the 
scenery is very picturesque. The soil of the valleys is very fruit- 
ful and well cultivated. There would not be much difficulty in 



680 WORKMEN'S WAGES. 

working the coal. The Lofubu is about 60 yards broad ; it flows 
perennially, and at its very lowest period, which is after Septem- 
ber, there is water about 18 inches deep, which could be navi- 
gated in flat-bottomed boats. At the time of my visit it was full, 
and the current was very strong. If the small cataract referred 
to were to be avoided, the land-carriage beyond would only be 
about two miles. The other seams farther up the river may, aft- 
er passing the cataract, be approached more easily than that in 
the Muatize ; as the seam, however, dips down into the stream, 
no drainage of the mine would be required, for if water were come 
to it would run into the stream. I did not visit the others, but 
I was informed that there are seams in the independent native 
territory as well as in that of the Portuguese. That in the Nake 
is in the Banyai country, and, indeed, I have no doubt but that the 
whole country between Zumbo and Lupata is a coal-field of at 
least 2^° of latitude in breadth, having many faults, made during 
the time of the igneous action. The gray sandstone rock having 
silicified trees lying on it is of these dimensions. The planta- 
tion in which the seam of coal exists would be valued among the 
Portuguese at about 60 dollars or £12, but much more would 
probably be asked if a wealthy purchaser appeared. They could 
not, however, raise the price very much higher, because estates 
containing coal might be had from the native owners at a much 
cheaper rate. The wages of free laborers, when employed in such 
work as gold-washing, agriculture, or digging coal, is 2 yards of 
unbleached calico per day. They might be got to work cheaper 
if engaged by the moon, or for about 16 yards per month. For 
masons and carpenters even, the ordinary rate is 2 yards per 
day. This is called 1 bra9a. Tradesmen from Kilimane demand 
4 bra9as, or 8 yards, per day. English or American unbleached 
calico is the only currency used. The carriage of goods up the 
river to Tete adds about 10 per cent, to their cost. The usual 
conveyance is by means of very large canoes and launches built 
at Senna. 

The amount of merchandise brought up during the five months 
of peace previous to my visit was of the value of 30,000 dollars, 
or about £6000. The annual supply of goods for trade is about 
£15,000, being calico, thick brass wire, beads, gunpowder, and 
guns. The quantity of the latter is, however, small, as the gov- 



TRADE.— PRICES. 68 1 

ernment of Mozambique made that article contraband after the 
commencement of the war. Goods, when traded with in the tribes 
around the Portuguese, produce a profit of only about 10 per cent., 
the articles traded in being ivory and gold-dust. A little oil and 
wheat are exported, but nothing else. Trade with the tribes be- 
yond the exclusive ones is much better. Thirty brass rings cost 
IO5. at Senna, £l at Tete, and £2 beyond the tribes in the vicin- 
ity of Tete ; these are a good price for a penful of gold-dust of the 
value of £2, The plantations of coffee, which, previous to the 
commencement of the slave-trade, yielded one material for ex- 
portation, are now deserted, and it is difficult to find a single tree. 
The indigo {Jndigofera argentea, the common wild indigo of Af- 
rica) is found growing every where, and large quantities of the sen- 
na-plant* grow in the village of Tete and other parts, but neither 
indigo nor senna is collected. Calumba-root, which is found in 
abundance in some parts farther down the river, is bought by the 
Americans, it is said, to use as a dye-stuff. A kind of sarsaparil- 
la, or a plant which is believed by the Portuguese to be such, is 
found from Londa to Senna, but has never been exported. 

The price of provisions is low, but very much higher than pre- 
vious to the commencement of the war. Two yards of calico are 
demanded for six fowls ; this is considered very dear, because, be- 
fore the war, the same quantity of calico was worth 24 fowls. Grain 
is sold in little bags made from the leaves of the palmyra, like 
those in which we receive sugar. They are called panjas, and each 
panja weighs between 30 and 40 lbs. The panja of wheat at Tete 
is worth a dollar, or 5s. ; but the native grain may be obtained 
among the islands below Lupata at the rate of three panjas for two 
yards of calico. The highest articles of consumption are tea and 
coffee, the tea being often as high as 155. a pound. Food is 
cheaper down the river below Lupata, and, previous to the war, 
the islands which stud the Zambesi were all inhabited, and, the 
soil being exceedingly fertile, grain and fowls could be got to any 
amount. The inhabitants disappeared before their enemies the 
Landeens, but are beginning to return since the peace. They 
have no cattle, the only place where we found no tsetse being 
the district of Tete itself; and the cattle in the possession of 

* These appear to belong to Cassia acutifolia, or true senna of commerce, found 
in various parts of Africa and India. — Dr. Hooker. 



682 GOLD-WASHING. 

the Portuguese are a mere remnant of what they formerly 
owned. 

When visiting the hot fountain, I examined what were for- 
merly the gold-washings in the rivulet Mokoroze, which is nearly 
on the 16th parallel of latitude. The Ibanks are covered with large 
groves of fine mango-trees, among which the Portuguese lived while 
superintending the washing for the precious metal. The process 
of washing is very laborious and tedious. A quantity of sand is 
put into a wooden bowl with water; a half rotatory motion is given 
to the dish, which causes the coarser particles of sand to collect 
on one side of the bottom. These are carefully removed with the 
hand, and the process of rotation renewed until the whole of the 
sand is taken away, and the gold alone remains. It is found in 
very minute scales, and, unless I had been assured to the contrary, 
I should have taken it to be mica, for, knowing the gold to be of 
greater specific gravity than the sand, I imagined that a stream 
of water would remove the latter and leave the former ; but here 
the practice is to remove the whole of the sand by the hand. 
This process was, no doubt, a profitable one to the Portuguese, and 
it is probable that, with the improved plan by means of mercury, 
the sands would be lucrative. I had an opportunity of examining 
the gold-dust from different parts to the east and northeast of Tete. 
There are six well-known washing-places. These are called Ma- 
shinga, Shindundo, Missala, Kapata, Mano, and Jawa. From the 
description of the rock I received, I suppose gold is found both in 
clay shale and quartz. At the range Mushinga to the N.JST.W. 
the rock is said to be so soft that the women pound it into powder 
in wooden mortars previous to washing. 

Pound toward the westward, the old Portuguese indicate a sta- 
tion which was near to Zumbo on the Piver Panyame, and called 
Dambarari, near which much gold was found. Farther west lay 
the now unknown kingdom of Abiitua, which was formerly famous 
for the metal ; and then, coming round toward the east, we have 
the gold- washings of the Mashona, or Bazizulu, and, farther east, 
that of Manica, where gold is found much more abundantly than 
in any other part, and which has been supposed by some to be 
the Ophir of King Solomon. I saw the gold from this quarter as 
large as grains of wheat, that found in the rivers which run into 
the coal-field being in very minute scales. If we place one leg 



rUACTICE WITH FLAKE-GOLD. Cg3 

of the compasses at Tete, and extend the other three and a half 
degrees, bringing it round from the northeast of Tete hy west, 
and then to the southeast, we nearly touch or include all the 
known gold-producing country. As the gold on this circumference 
is found in coarser g-rains than in the streams running toward the 
centre, or Tete, I imagine that the real gold-field lies round about 
the coal-field ; and, if I am right in the conjecture, then we have 
coal encircled by a gold-field, and abundance of wood, water, and 
provisions — a combination not often met with in the world. The 
inhabitants are not unfavorable to washings, conducted on the 
principle formerly mentioned. At present they wash only when 
in want of a little calico. They know the value of gold perfectly 
well, for they bring it for sale in goose-quills, and demand 24 
yards of calico for one penful. When the rivers in the district 
of Manica and other gold-washing places have been flooded, they 
leave a coating of mud on the banks. The natives observe the 
spots which dry soonest, and commence digging there, in firm 
belief that gold lies beneath. They are said not to dig deeper 
than their chins, believing that if they did so the ground would 
fall in and kill them. When they find a jnece or flake of gold, 
they bury it again, from the superstitious idea that this is the seed 
of the gold, and, though they know the value of it well, they prefer 
losing it rather than the whole future crop. This conduct seemed 
to me so very unlikely in men who bring the dust in quills, and 
even put in a few seeds of a certain plant as a charm to prevent 
their losing any of it on the way, that I doubted the authority of 
my informant ; but I found the report verified by all the Portu- 
guese who knew the native language and mode of thinking, and 
give the statement for what it is worth. If it is really practiced, 
the custom may have been introduced by some knowing one who 
wished to defraud the chiefs of their due ; for we are informed in 
Portuguese history that in former times these pieces or flakes of 
gold were considered the perquisites of the chiefs. 

Major Sicard, the commandant, whose kindness to me and my 
people was unbounded, presented a rosary made of the gold of 
the country, the workmanship of a native of Tete, to my little 
daughter ; also specimens of the gold-dust of three different places, 
which, v/ith the coal of Muatize and Morongoze, are deposited 
in the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, London. 



684 LIBEEALITY OF COMMANDANT. 

All the cultivation is carried on with hoes in the native manner, 
and considerable quantities oiSolcus sorghum^ maize, Pennisetum 
typhoideum, or lotsa of the Balonda, millet, rice, and wheat are 
raised, as also several kinds of beans — one of which, called "litloo" 
by the Bechuanas, yields under ground, as well as the Arachis 
hypogcBa, or ground-nut ; with cucumbers, pumpkins, and melons. 
The wheat is sown in low-lying places which are annually flooded 
by the Zdmbesi. When the waters retire, the women drop a few 
grains in a hole made with a hoe, then push back the soil with the 
foot. One weeding alone is required before the grain comes to ma- 
turity. This simple process represents all our subsoil plowing, lim- 
ing, manuring, and harrowing, for in four months after planting a 
good crop is ready for the sickle, and has been known to yield a 
hundred-fold. It flourished still more at Zumbo. No irrigation 
is required, because here there are gentle rains, almost like mist, 
in winter, which go by the name of " Avheat-showers," and are un- 
known in the interior, where no winter rain ever falls. The rains 
at Tete come from the east, though the prevailing winds come 
from the S.S.E. The finest portion of the flour does not make 
bread nearly so white as the seconds, and here the boyaloa (pombe), 
or native beer, is employed to mix with the flour instead of yeast. 
It makes excellent bread. At Kilimane, where the cocoanut palm 
abounds, the toddy from it, called "sura," is used for the same 
purpose, and makes the bread still lighter. 

As it was necessary to leave most of my men at this place, 
Major Sicard gave them a portion of land on which to cultivate 
their own food, generously supplying them with corn in the mean 
time. He also said that my young men might go and hunt 
elephants in company with his servants, and purchase goods with 
both the ivory and dried meat, in order that they might have 
something to take with them on their return to Sekeletu. The 
men were delighted with his liberality, and soon sixty or seventy 
of them set off to engage in this enterprise. There was no 
calico to be had at this time in Tete, but the commandant hand- 
somely furnished my men with clothing. I was in a state of 
want myself, and, though I pressed him to take payment in 
ivory for both myself and men, he refused all recompense. I 
shall ever remember his kindness with deep gratitude. He 
has written me, since my arrival in England, that my men had 



GEOGRAPHICAL INTORMATION. 685 

killed four elephants in the course of two months after ray de- 
parture. 

On the day of my arrival I was visited by all the gentlemen of 
the village, Iboth white and colored, including the padre. Not 
one of them had any idea as to where the source of the Zambesi 
lay. They sent for the best traveled natives, but none of them 
knew the river even as far as Kansala. The father of one of the 
rebels who had been fighting against them had been a great 
traveler to the southwest, and had even heard of our visit to 
Lake Ngami; but he was equally ignorant with all the others 
that the Zambesi flowed in the centre of the country. They had, 
however, more knowledge of the country to the north of Tete 
than I had. One man, who had gone to Cazembe with Major 
Monteiro, stated that he had seen the Luapura or Loapula flowing 
past the town of that chieftain into the Luameji or Leeambye, 
but imagined that it found its way, somehow or other, into An- 
gola. The fact that sometimes rivers were seen to flow like this 
toward the centre of the country, led geographers to the supposi- 
tion that inner Africa was composed of elevated sandy plains, into 
which rivers ran and were lost. One of the gentlemen present, 
Senhor Candido, had visited a lake 45 days to the N.N.W. of 
Tete, which is probably the Lake Maravi of geographers, as in 
going thither they pass through the people of that name. The 
inhabitants of its southern coast are named Shiva ; those on the 
north, Mujao ; and they call the lake Nyanja or Nyanje, which 
simply means a large water, or bed of a large river. A high 
mountain stands in the middle of it, called Mmombo or Murom- 
bola, which is inhabited by people who have much cattle. He 
stated that he crossed the Nyanja at a narrow part, and was 
36 hours in the passage. The canoes were punted the whole 
way, and, if we take the rate about two miles per hour, it may be 
sixty or seventy miles in breadth. The country all round was 
composed of level plains covered with grass, and, indeed, in going 
thither they traveled seven or eight days without wood, and cooked 
their food with grass and stalks of native corn alone. The people 
sold their cattle at a very cheap rate. From the southern ex- 
tremity of the lake two rivers issue forth : one, named after itself, 
the Nyanja, which passes into the sea on the east coast under 
another name ; and the Shire, which flows into the Zambesi a 



686 IDEAS OF A SUPREME BEING. 

little below Senna. The Shire is named Shirwa at its point of 
departure from the lake, and Senhor Candido was informed, when 
there, that the lake was simply an expansion of the River Njanja, 
which comes from the north and encircles the mountain Murom- 
bo, the meaning of which is junction or union, in reference to the 
water having parted at its northern extremity, and united again at 
its southern. The Shire flows through a low, flat, marshy coun- 
try, but abounding in population, and they are said to be brave. 
The Portuguese are unable to navigate the Shire up to the Lake 
Nyanja, because of the great abundance of a water-plant which re- 
quires no soil, and which they name " alfacinya" {Pistia stratiotes), 
from its resemblance to a lettuce. This completely obstructs the 
progress of canoes. In confirmation of this I may state that, when 
I passed the mouth of the Shire, great quantities of this same 
plant were floating from it into the Zambesi, and many parts of 
the banks below were covered with the dead plants. 

Senhor Candido stated that slight earthquakes have happened 
several times in the country of the Maravi, and at no great/ dis- 
tance from Tete. The motion seems to come from the eastward, 
and never to have lasted more than a few seconds. They are 
named in the Maravi tongue " shiwo," and in that of the people 
of Tete "shitakoteko," or '■^shivering.'''' This agrees exactly with 
what has taken place in the coast of Mozambique — a few slight 
shocks of short duration, and all appearing to come from the east. 
At Senna, too, a single shock has been felt several times, which 
shook the doors and windows, and made the glasses jingle. Both 
Tete and Senna have hot springs in their vicinity, but the shocks 
seemed to come, not from them, but from the east, and proceed to 
the west. They are probably connected with the active volcanoes 
in the island of Bourbon. 

As Senhor Candido holds the office of judge in all the disputes 
of the natives, and knows their language perfectly, his statement 
may be relied on that all the natives of this region have a clear 
idea of a Supreme Being, the maker and governor of all things. 
He is named "Morimo," "Molungo," "Reza," "Mpambe,"in the 
dififerent dialects spoken. The Barotse name him "Nyampi," 
and the Balonda "Zambi." All promptly acknowledge him as 
the ruler over all. They also fully believe in the soul's continued 
existence apart from the body, and visit the graves of relatives, 



TRADE RESTRICTIONS. 687 

making offerings of food, beer, etc. When undergoing the ordeal, 
they hold up their hands to the Euler of Heaven, as if appealing 
to liim to assert their innocence. When they escape, or recover 
from sickness, or are delivered from any danger, they offer a sacri- 
fice of a fowl or a sheep, pouring out the blood as a libation to the 
soul of some departed relative. They believe in the transmigra- 
tion of souls, and also that while persons are still living they may 
enter into lions and alligators, and then return again to their own 
bodies. 

While still at Tete the son of Monomotapa paid the command- 
ant a visit. He is named Mozungo, or "White Man," has a nar- 
row tapering head, and probably none of the ability or energy his 
father possessed. He was the favorite of his father, who hoped 
that he would occupy his place. A strong party, however, in the 
tribe placed Katalosa in the chieftainship, and the son became, as 
they say, a child of this man. The Portuguese have repeatedly 
received offers of territory if they would only attend the inter- 
ment of the departed chief with troops, fire off many rounds of 
cartridges over the grave, and then give eclat to the installment 
of the new chief. Their presence would probably influence the 
election, for many would vote on the side of power, and a, candi- 
date might feel it worth while to grant a good piece of land, if 
thereby he could secure the chieftainship to himself. When the 
Portuguese traders wish to pass into the country beyond Katalo- 
sa, they present him with about thirty-two yards of calico and 
some other goods, and he then gives them leave to pass in what- 
ever direction they choose to go. They must, however, give cer- 
tain quantities of cloth to a number of inferior chiefs beside, and 
they are subject to the game-laws. They have thus a body of ex- 
clusive tribes around them, preventing direct intercourse between 
them and the population beyond. It is strange that, when they 
had the power, they did not insist on the free navigation of the 
Zambesi. I can only account for this in the same way in which 
I accounted for a similar state of things in the west. All the 
traders have been in the hands of slaves, and have wanted that 
moral courage which a free man, with free servants on whom he 
can depend, usually possesses. If the English had been here, 
they would have insisted on the free navigation of this pathway 
as an indispensable condition of friendship. The present system 



688 FORMER JESUIT ESTABLISHMENT. 

is a serious difficulty in the way of developing the resources of 
the country, and might prove fatal to an unarmed expedition. 
If this desirable and most fertile field, of enterprise is ever to be 
opened up, men must proceed on a different plan from that which 
has been followed, and I do not apprehend there would be much 
difficulty in commencing a new system, if those who undertook it 
insisted that it is not our custom to pay for a highway which has 
not been made by man. The natives themselves would not deny 
that the river is free to those who do not trade in slaves. If, in 
addition to an open, frank explanation, a small subsidy were given 
to the paramount chief, the willing consent of all the subordinates 
would soon be secured. 

On the 1st of April I went to see the site of a former establish- 
ment of the Jesuits, called Micombo, about ten miles S.E. of Tete. 
Like all their settlements I have seen, both judgment and taste 
had been employed in the selection of the site. A little stream 
of mineral water had been collected in a tank and conducted to 
their house, before which was a little garden for raising vege- 
tables at times of the year when no rain falls. It is now buried 
in a deep shady grove of mango-trees. I was accompanied by 
Captain Nunes, whose great-grandfather, also a captain in the 
time of the Marquis of Pombal, received sealed orders, to be 
opened only on a certain day. When that day arrived, he found 
the command to go with his company, seize all the Jesuits of this 
establishment, and march them as prisoners to the coast. The 
riches of the fraternity, which were immense, were taken posses- 
sion of by the state. Large quantities of gold had often been 
sent to their superiors at Goa, inclosed in images. The Jesuits 
here do not seem to have possessed the sympathies of the people 
as their brethren in Angola did. They were keen traders in 
ivory and gold-dust. All praise their industry. Whatever they 
did, they did it with all their might, and probably their successful 
labors in securing the chief part of the trade to themselves had 
excited the envy of the laity. None of the natives here can 
read ; and though the Jesuits are said to have translated some 
of the prayers into the language of the country, I was unable to 
obtain a copy. The only religious teachers now in this part of 
the country are two gentlemen of color, natives of Goa. The 
one who officiates at Tete, named Pedro Antonio d'Araujo, is a 



INUNDATION OF THE ZAMBESI. 689 

graduate in Dogmatic Theology and Moral Philosophy. There is 
but a single school in Tete, and it is attended only by the native 
Portuguese children, who are taught to read and write. The black 
population is totally uncared for. The soldiers are marched every 
Sunday to hear mass, and but few others attend church. During 
the period of my stay, a kind of theatrical representation of our 
Savior's passion and resurrection was performed. The images 
and other paraphernalia used were of great value, but the present 
riches of the Church are nothing to what it once possessed. The 
commandant is obliged to lock up all the gold and silver in the 
fort for safety, though not from any apprehension of its being 
stolen by the people, for they have a dread of sacrilege. 

The state of religion and education is, I am sorry to say, as 
low as that of commerce; but the European Portuguese value 
education highly, and send their children to Goa and elsewhere 
for instruction in the higher branches. There is not a single 
bookseller's shop, however, in either eastern or western Africa. 
Even Loanda, with its 12,000 or 14,000 souls, can not boast of 
one store for the sale of food for the mind. 

On the 2d the Zambesi suddenly rose several feet in height. 
Three such floods are e;xpeeted annually, but this year there were 
four. This last was accompanied by discoloration, and must have 
been caused by another great fall of rain east of the ridge. We 
had observed a flood of discolored water when we reached the 
river at the Kafue ; it then fell two feet, and from subsequent 
rains again rose so high that we were obliged to leave it wlien 
opposite the hill Pink we. About the 10th of March the river 
rose several feet with comparatively clear water, and it continued 
to rise until the 21st, with but very slight discoloration. This 
gradual rise was the greatest, and was probably caused by the 
water of inundation in the interior. The sudden rise which hap- 
pened on the 2d, being deeply discolored, showed again the eff"ect 
of rains at a comparatively short distance. The faqt of the river 
rising three or four times annually, and the one flood of inundation 
being mixed with the others, may account for the Portuguese not 
recognizing the phenomenon of the periodical inundation, so well 
known in the central country. 

The independent natives cultivate a little cotton, but it is not 
at all equal, either in quantity or quality, to what we found in 

Xx 



690 CONGE AND BUAZE. 

,s. 

Angola. The pile is short, and it clings to the seed so much that 
they use an iron roller to detach it. The soil, however, is equal 
to the production of any tropical plant or fruit. The natives have 
never heen encouraged to cultivate cotton for sale, nor has any 
new variety been introduced. We saw no palm-oil-trees, the oil 
which is occasionally exported heing from the ground-nut. One 
of the merchants of Tete had a mill of the rudest construction for 
grinding this nut, which was driven Iby donkeys. It was the only 
specimen of a machine I could exhibit to my men. A very supe- 
rior kind of salad oil is obtained from the seeds of cucumbers, and 
is much used in native cookery. 

An offer, said to have been made by the " Times," having ex- 
cited attention even in this distant part, I asked the commandant 
if he knew of any plant fit for the production of paper. He pro- 
cured specimens of the fibrous tissue of a species of aloe, named 
Conge, and some also from the root of a wild date, and, lastly, of 
a plant named Buaze, the fibres of which, though useless for the 
manufacture of paper, are probably a suitable substitute for flax. 
I submitted a small quantity of these fibres to Messrs. Pye, 
Brothers, of London, who have invented a superior mode for the 
preparation of such tissues for the manufacturer. They most 
politely undertook the examination, and have given a favorable 
opinion of the Buaze, as may be seen in the note below.* 

* 80 L(mbard Street, 9.Qth March, 1857. 

Dear Sir, — We have the pleasure to return you the specimens of fibrous plants 
(from the Zambesi Eiver, on which you were desirous to see the effects of our treat- 
;ment ; we therefore inclose to you, 

No. 1. Buaze, in the state received from you. 
1 A, Do. as prepared by us. 

1 B. The tow which has come from it in hackling. 
No. 2. Conge, as received from you. 

2 A. Do. as prepared by us. 

"With regard to both these fibres, we must state that the very minute quantity of 
-each specimen has prevented our subjecting them to any thing like the full treat- 
ment of our process, and we can therefore only give you an approximate idea of 
their value. 

The Buaze evidently possesses a very strong and fine fibre, assimilating to flax in 
its character, but we believe, when treated in q%iantity by our process, it would show 
!both a stronger and finer fibre than flax ; but being unable to apply the rolling or 
pressing processes with any eiBciency to so very small a quantity, the gums are not 
jet so perfectly extracted as they would be, nor the fibre opened out to so fine a 
t^uality as it would then exhibit. 

• 



THE BUAZE. 



691 



A representation of the plant is given in the annexed wood- 
cut, as a help to its identifica- 
tion. I was unable to procure 
either the flowers or fruit ; but, 
as it is not recognized at si^ht 
by that accomplished botanist 
and eminent traveler, Dr. J. D. 
Hooker, it may safely be con- 
cluded that it is quite unknown 
to botanists. It is stated by 
the Portuguese to grow in large 
quantities in the Maravi coun- 
try north of the Zambesi, but it 
is not cultivated, and the only 
known use it has been put to 
is in making threads on which 
the natives string their beads. 
Elsewhere the split tendons of 
animals are employed for this 
purpose. This seems to be of 
equal strength, for a firm thread 

of it feels like catgut in the hand, and would rather cut the fingers 

than break. 

This is even yet more the case with the Conge, which, being naturally a harsh 
fibre, full of gums, wants exactly that powerful treatment which our process is 
calculated to give it, but which can not be applied to such miniature specimens. 
We do not therefore consider this as more than half treated, its fibre consequently 
remaining yet harsh, and coarse, and stiiF, as compared with what it would be if 
treated in quantity. 

Judging that it would be satisfactory to you to be in possession of the best prac- 
tical opinion to be obtained on such a subject, we took the liberty of foi-warding 
your little specimens to Messrs. Marshall, of Leeds, who have kindly favored us 
with the following observations on them : 

' ' We have examined the samples you sent us yesterday, and think the Conge or 
aloe fibre would be of no use to us, but the Buaze fibre appears to resemble flax, 
and as prepared by you will be equal to flax worth £bO or £60 per ton, but we 
could hardly speak positively to the value unless we had 1 cwt. or 2 cwt. to try on 
our machinery. However, we think the result is promising, and we hope further in- 
quiry will be made as to the probable supply of the material." 

We are, dear sir, your very obedient servants, 

Pte, Beothees. 

The liev. Dr. Livingstone. 




The Budze. 



692 CINCHONA BARK. 

Having waited a month for the commencement of the healthy 
season at Kilimane, I would have started at the beginning of 
April, but tarried a few days in order that the moon might make 
her appearance, and enable me to take lunar observations on my 
way down the river. A sudden change of temperature happening 
on the 4th, simultaneously with the appearance of the new moon, 
the commandant and myself, with nearly every person in the 
house, were laid up with a severe attack of fever. I soon re- 
covered by the use of my wonted remedies, but Major Sicard and 
his little boy were confined much longer. There was a general 
fall of 4° of temperature from the middle of March, 84° at 9 A.M., 
and 87° at 9 P.M. ; the greatest heat being 90° at midday, and 
the lowest 81° at sunrise. It afforded me pleasure to attend the 
invalids in their sickness, though I was unable to show a tithe of 
the gratitude I felt for the commandant's increasing kindness. 
My quinine and other remedies were nearly all expended, and 
no fresh supply was to be found here, there being no doctors at 
Tete, and only one apothecary with the troops, whose stock of 
medicine was also small. The Portuguese, however, informed 
me that they had the cinchona bark growing in their country — 
that there was a little of it to be found at Tete — whole forests of 
it at Senna and near the delta of Kilimane. It seems quite a 
providential arrangement that the remedy for fever should be 
found in the greatest abundance where it is most needed. On 
seeing the leaves, I stated that it was not the Cinchona longifolia 
from which it is supposed the quinine of commerce is extracted, 
but the name and properties of this bark made me imagine that 
it was a cinchonaceous tree. I could not get the flower, but when 
I went to Senna I tried to bring away a few small living trees 
with earth in a box. They, however, all died when we came to 
Kilimane. Failing in this mode of testing the point, I submitted 
a few leaves and seed-vessels to my friend. Dr. Hooker, who 
kindly informs me that they belong " apparently to an apocy- 
neous plant, very nearly allied to the Malouetia Heudlotii (of 
Decaisne), a native of Senegambia." Dr. H. adds, "Various 
plants of this natural order are reputed powerful febrifuges, and 
some of them are said to equal the cinchona in their effects." It 
is called in the native tongue Kumbanzo. 

The flo\yers are reported to be white. The pods are in pairs, a 



THE KUMBANZO. 



693 




The Kumbanzo Leaves, Pods, and Seeds. 

foot or fifteen inches in length, and contain a groove on their 
inner sides. The thick soft bark of the root is the part used by 
the natives ; the Portuguese use that of the tree itself. I imme- 
diately began to use a decoction of the bark of the root, and my 
men found it so efficacious that they collected small quantities of 
it for themselves, and kept it in little bags for future use. Some 
of them said that they knew it in their own country, but I never 
happened to observe it. The decoction is given after the first 
paroxysm of the complaint is over. The Portuguese believe it to 
l\ave the same efiects as the quinine, and it may prove a substi- 
tute for that invaluable medicine. 

There are numbers of other medicines in use among the na- 
tives, but I have always been obliged to regret want of time to 
ascertain which were useful and which of no value. We find a 
medicine in use by a tribe in one part of the country, and the 



694 NATIVE MEDICINES. 

same plant employed hj a tribe a thousand miles distant. This 
surely must arise from some inherent virtue in the plant. The 
Boers under Potgeiter visited Delgoa Bay for the first time about 
ten years ago, in order to secure a port on the east coast for 
their republic. They had come from a part of the interior where 
the disease called croup occasionally prevails. There was no ap- 
pearance of the disease among them at the period of their visit, 
but the Portuguese inhabitants of that bay found that they had 
left it among them, and several adults were cut off by a form 
of the complaint called laryngismus stridulus, the disease of 
which the great Washington died. Similar cases have occurred 
in the South Sea Islands. Ships have left diseases from which 
no one on board was suflfering at the time of their visit. Many 
of the inhabitants here were cut down, usually in three days from 
their first attack, until a native doctor adopted the plan of scratch- 
ing the root of the tongue freely with a certain root, and giving 
a piece of it to be chewed. The cure may have been effected 
by the scarification only, but the Portuguese have the strongest 
faith in the virtues of the root, and always keep some of it within 
reach. 

There are also other plants which the natives use in the treat- 
ment of fever, and some of them produce diaphoresis in a short 
space of time. It is certain that we have got the knowledge of the 
most potent febrifuge in our pharmacopoeia from the natives of 
another country. We have no cure for cholera and some other 
diseases. It might be worth the investigation of those who visit 
Africa to try and find other remedies in a somewhat similar way 
to that in which we found the quinine.* 

* I add the native names of a few of their remedies in order to assist the in- 
quirer : Mupanda panda : this is used in fever for producing perspiration ; the leaves 
are named Chirussa ; the roots dye red, and are very astringent. Goho or Goo : 
this is the ordeal medicine; it is both purgative and emetic. Mutuva or Mu- 
tumbue : this plant contains so much oil that it serves as lights in Londa ; it is 
an emollient drink for the cure of coughs, and the pounded leaves answer as 
soap to wash the head. Nyamucu ucu has a curious softening effect on old drj' 
grain. Mussakasi is believed to remove the effects of the Goo. Mudama is a 
stringent vermifuge. Mapubuza dyes a red color. Musikizi yields an oil. Shin- 
kondo : a virulent poison ; the Maravi use it- in their ordeal, and it is very fatal. 
Kanunka utare is said to expel serpents and rats by its pungent smell, which is not 
at all disagreeable to man ; this is probably a kind of Zanthoxylon, perhaps the Z. 



AFRICAN IRON. (395 

The only other metal, besides gold, we have in abundance in 
this region, is iron, and that is of excellent quality. In some 
places it is obtained from what is called the specular iron ore, 
and also from black oxide. The latter has been well roasted 
in the operations of nature, and contains a large proportion of 
the metal. It occurs generally in tears or rounded lumps, and is 
but slightly magnetic. When found in the beds of rivers, the 
natives know of its existence by the quantity of oxide on the sur- 
face, and they find no difficulty in digging it with pointed sticks. 
They consider English iron as "rotten;" and I have seen, when 
a javelin of their own iron lighted on the cranium of a hippopot- 
amus, it curled up like the proboscis of a butterfly, and the 
owner would prepare it for future use by straightening it cold 
with two stones. I brought home some of the hoes which Seke- 
letu gave me to purchase a canoe, also some others obtained in 
Kilimane, and they have been found of such good quality that 

melancantha of Western Africa, as it is used to expel rats and serpents tliere. 
Mussonzoa djes cloth black. Mussio : the beans of this also dye black. Kangome, 
with flowers and fruit like Mocha coffee ; the leaves are much like those of the 
sloe, and the seeds are used as coffee or eaten as beans. Kanembe-embe : the 
pounded leaves used as an extemporaneous glue for mending broken vessels. Ka- 
tunguru is used for killing fish. Mutavea Nyerere : an active caustic. Mudiacoro : 
also an external caustic, and used internally. Kapande : another ordeal plant, but 
used to produce diaphoresis. Karumgasura : also diaphoretic. Munyazi yields an 
oil, and is one of the ingredients for curing the wounds of poisoned arrows. Uom- 
bue : a large root employed in killing fish. Kakumate : used in intermittents. 
Musheteko : applied to ulcers, and the infusion also internally in amenori-hoea, 
Inyakanyanya : this is seen in small, dark-colored, crooked roots of pleasant aro- 
matic smell and slightly bitter taste, and is highly extolled in the treatment of 
fever ; it is found in Manica. Eskinencia : used in croup and sore-throat. Itaca 
or Itaka : for diaphoresis in fever ; this root is brought as an article of barter by 
the Arabs to Kilimane ; the natives purchase it eagerly. Mukundukundu : a de- 
coction used as a febrifuge in the same way as quinine ; it grows plentifully at 
Shupanga, and the wood is used as masts for launches. I may here add the re- 
cipe of Brother Pedro of Zumbo for the cure of poisoned wounds, in order to show 
the similarity of practice among the natives of the Zambesi, from whom, in all 
probability, he acquired his knowledge, and the Bushmen of the Kalahari. It con- 
sists of equal parts of the roots of the Calumba, Musheteko, Abutua, Batatinya, Pa- 
regekanto, Itaka, or Kapande, put into a bottle and covered with common castor- 
oil. As I have before observed, I believe the oily ingredient is the efifectual one, 
and ought to be tried by any one who has the misfortune to get wounded by a 
Bushman's or Banyai arrow. 



696 AFRICAN IRON. 

a friend of mine in Birmingham has made an Enfield rifle of 
them.* 

The iron ore exists in great abundance, but I did not find any 
limestone in its immediate vicinit j. So far as I could learn, there 
is neither copper nor silver. Malachite is worked by the people 
of Cazembe, but, as I did not see it, nor any other metal, I can say 
nothing about it. A few precious stones are met with, and some 
parts are Ijuite covered with agates. The mineralogy of the dis- 
trict, however, has not been explored by any one competent to the 
task. 

When my friend the commandant was fairly recovered, and I 
myself felt strong again, I prepared to descend the Zambesi. A 
number of my men were out elephant-hunting, and others had 
established a brisk trade in firewood, as their countrymen did at 
Loanda. I chose sixteen of those who could manage canoes to 

* The following remarks are by a practical blacksmith, one of the most experi- 
enced men in the gun-trade. In this trade various qualities of iron are used, 
and close attention is required to secure for each purpose the quality of iron pecu- 
liarly adapted to it : 

The iron in the two spades strongly resembles Swedish or Russian ; it is highly 
carbonized. 

The same qualities are found in both spades. 

When chilled in water it has all the properties of steel : see the piece marked I, 
chilled at one end, and left soft at the other. 

When worked hot, it is very malleable : but cold, it breaks quite short and 
brittle. 

The great irregularity found in the working of the iron affords evidence that it 
has been prepared by inexperienced hands. 

This is shown in the bending of the small spade ; the thick portion retains its 
crystallized nature, while the thin part has been changed by the hammering it has 
undergone. 

The large spade shows a very brittle fracture. 

The iron is too brittle for gun-work ; it would be liable to break. 

This iron, if repeatedly heated and hammered, would become decarbonized, and 
would then possess the qualities found in the spear-head, which, after being curled 
up by being struck against a hard substance, was restored, by hammering, to its 
original form without injury. 

The piece of iron marked II is a piece of gun-iron of fibrous quality, such as will 
bend without breaking. 

The piece marked III is of crystalline quality ; it has been submitted to a proc- 
ess which has changed it to IIII ; III and IIII are cut from the same bar. The 
spade-iron has been submitted to the same process, but no corresponding effect can 
be produced. 



DEATH AND FUNERAL OF A LADY. 697 

convey me down the river. Many more would have come, but 
we were informed that there had been a failure of the crops at 
Kilimane from the rains not coming at the proper time, and 
thousands had died of hunger. I did not hear of a single effort 
having been made to relieve the famishing by sending them food 
down the river. Those who perished were mostly slaves, and 
others seemed to think that their masters ought to pay for their 
relie'f. The sufferers were chiefly among those natives who in- 
habit the delta, and who are subject to the Portuguese. They 
are in a state of slavery, but are kept on farms and mildly 
treated. Many yield a certain rental of grain only to their own- 
ers, and are otherwise free. Eight thousand are said to have 
perished. Major Sicard lent me a boat which had been built on 
the river, and sent also Lieutenant Miranda to conduct me to the 
coast. 

A Portuguese lady who had come with her brother from Lis- 
bon, having been suffering for some days from a severe attack 
of fever, died about three o'clock in the morning of the 20th of 
April. The heat of the body having continued unabated till 
six o'clock, I was called in, and found her bosom quite as warm 
as I ever did in a living case of fever. This continued for three 
hours more. As I had never seen a case in which fever-heat 
continued so long after death, I delayed the funeral until un- 
mistakable symptoms of dissolution occurred. She was a wid- 
ow, only twenty-two years of age, and had been ten years in Af- 
rica. I attended the funeral in the evening, and was struck by 
the custom of the country. A number of slaves preceded us, 
and fired off many rounds of gunpowder in front of the body. 
When a person of much popularity is buried, all the surround- 
ing chiefs send deputations to fire over the grave. On one occa- 
sion at Tete, more than thirty barrels of gunpowder were expend- 
ed. Early in the morning of the 21st the slaves of the deceased 
lady's brother went round the village making a lamentation, and 
drums were beaten all day, as they are at such times among the 
heathen. 

The commandant provided for the jcfurney most abundantly, 
and gave orders to Lieutenant Miranda that I should not be al- 
lowed to pay for any thing all the way to the coast, and sent 
messages to his friends Senhors Ferrao, Isidore, Asevedo, and 



698 KCNDNESS OF POETUGUESE. 

Nunes, to treat me as they would himself. From every one of 
these gentlemen I am happy to acknowledge that I received most 
disinterested kindness, and I ought to speak well forever of Portu- 
guese hospitality. I have noted each little act of civility received, 
because somehow or other we have come to hold the Portuguese 
character in rather a low estimation. This may have arisen 
partly from the pertinacity with which some of them have pursued 
the slave-trade, and partly from the contrast which they now oflfer 
to their illustrious ancestors — the foremost navigators of the world. 
If my specification of their kindnesses will tend to engender a 
more respectful feeling to the nation, I shall consider myself well 
rewarded. We had three large canoes in the company which had 
lately come up with goods from Senna. They are made very 
large and strong, much larger than any we ever saw in the inte- 
rior, and might strike with great force against a rock and not he 
broken. The men sit at the stern when paddling, and there is 
usually a little shed made over a part of the canoe to shade the 
passengers from the sun. The boat in which I went was fur- 
nished with such a covering, so I sat quite comfortably. 



THE REBEL BONGA. 699 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

Leave Tete and proceed down the River. — Pass the Stockade of Bonga. — Gorge 
of Lupata. — " Spine of the "World." — Width of River. — Islands. — ^War Drum at 
Shiramba. — Canoe Navigation. — Reach Senna. — Its ruinous State. — Landeens 
levy Fines upon the Inhabitants. — Cowardice of native Militia. — State of the 
Revenue. — No direct Trade with Portugal. — Attempts to revive the Trade of 
Eastern Africa. — Country round Senna. — Gorongozo, a Jesuit Station. — Manica, 
the best Gold Region in Eastern Africa. — Boat-building at Senna. — Our Depart- 
m-e. — Capture of a Rebel Stockade. — Plants Alfacinya and Njefu at the Conflu- 
ence of the Shire. — Landeen Opinion of the Whites. — Mazaro, the point reached 
by Captain Parker. — His Opinion respecting the Navigation of the River from 
this to the Ocean. — Lieutenant Hoskins' Remarks on the same subject. — Fever, 
its Effects. — Kindly received into the House of Colonel Nunes at Kilimane. — 
Forethought of Captain Nolloth and Dr. Walsh. — Joy imbittered. — Deep Obli- 
gations to the Earl of Clarendon, etc. — On developing Resources of the Interior. 
— Desirableness of Missionary Societies selecting healthy Stations. — Arrange- 
ments on leaving my Men. — Retrospect. — Probable Influence of the Discoveries 
on Slavery. — Supply of Cotton, Sugar, etc., by Free Labor. — Commercial Sta- 
tions. — Development of the Resources of Africa a Work of Time. — Site of Kili- 
mane. — Unhealthiness. — Death of a shipwrecked Crew from Fever. — The Cap- 
tain saved by Quinine. — Arrival of H. M. Bi'ig " Frolic." — Anxiety of one of my 
Men to go to England. — Rough Passage in the Boats to the Ship. — Sekwebu's 
Alarm. — Sail for Mauritius. — Sekwebu on board; he becomes insane; drowns 
himself. — Kindness of Major-General C. M. Hay. — Escape Shipwreck. — Reach 
Hopie. 

We left Tete at noon on the 22d, and in the afternoon arrived 
at the garden of Senhor A. Manoel de Gomez, son-in-law and 
nephew of Bonga. The Commandant of Tete had sent a letter to 
the rebel Bonga, stating that he ought to treat me kindly, and he 
had deputed his son-in-law to be my host. Bonga is not at all 
equal to his father Nyaude, who was a man of great ability. He 
is also in bad odor with the Portuguese, because he receives all 
runaway slaves and criminals. He does not trust the Portuguese, 
and is reported to be excessively superstitious. I found his son-in- 
law, Manoel, extremely friendly, and able to converse in a very in- 
telligent manner. He was in his garden when we arrived, but soon 
dressed himself respectably, and gave us a good tea and dinner. 



700 GORGE AND EANGE OF LUPATA.' 

After a breakfast of tea, roasted eggs, and biscuits nest morning, 
he presented six fowls and three goats as provisions for the journey. 
When we parted from him we passed the stockade of Bonga at the 
confluence of the Luenya, but did not go near it, as he is said to 
be very suspicious. The Portuguese advised me not to take any 
observation, as the instruments might awaken fears in Bonga's 
mind, but Manoel said I might do so if I wished ; his garden, 
however, being above the confluence, could not avail as a geo- 
graphical point. There are some good houses in the stockade. 
The trees of which it is composed seemed to me to be living, and 
could not be burned. It was strange to see a stockade menacing 
the whole commerce of the river in a situation where the guns of a 
vessel would have full play on it, but it is a formidable affair for 
those who have only muskets. On one occasion, when Nyaude 
was attacked by Kisaka, they fought for weeks ; and though 
Nyaude was reduced to cutting up his copper anklets for balls, 
his enemies were not able to enter the stockade. 

On the 24th we sailed only about three hours, as we had done 
the day before ; but having come to a small island at the western 
entrance of the gorge of Lupata, where Dr. Lacerda is said to have 
taken an astronomical observation, and called it the island of 
Mozambique, because it was believed to be in the same latitude, 
or 15° V, I wished to verify his position, and remained over night: 
my informants must have been mistaken, for I found the island of 
Mozambique here to be lat. 16° 34' 46'' S. 

Respecting this range, to which the gorge has given a name, 
some Portuguese writers have stated it to be so high that snow 
lies on it during the whole year, and that it is composed of marble. 
It is not so high in appearance as the Campsie Hills when seen 
from the Vale of Clyde. The western side is the most abrupt, 
and gives the idea of the greatest height, as it rises up perpen- 
dicularly from the water six or seven hundred feet. As seen 
from this island, it is certainly no higher than Arthur's Seat 
appears from Prince's Street, Edinburgh. The rock is compact 
silicious schist of a slightly reddish color, and in thin strata ; the 
island on which we slept looks as if torn off from the opposite 
side of the gorge, for the strata are twisted and torn in every 
direction. The eastern side of the range is much more sloping 
than the western, covered with trees, and does not give the idea 



THE RIVEE AlU) ISLANDS. 701 

of altitude so niucli as the western. It extends a considerable 
way into the Maganja country in the north, and then bends round 
toward the river again, and ends in the lofty mountain Morumbala, 
opposite Senna. On the other or southern side it is straighter, 
but is said to end in Gorongozo, a mountain west of the same 
point. The person who called this Lupata " the spine of the world" 
evidently did not mean to say that it was a translation of the word, 
for it means a defile or gorge having perpendicular walls. This 
range does not deserve the name of either Cordillera or Spine, 
unless we are willing to believe that the world has a very small 
and very crooked "back-bone." 

We passed through the gorge in two hours, and found it rather 
tortuous, and between 200 and 300 yards wide. The river is 
said to be here always excessively deep ; it seemed to me that a 
steamer could pass through it at full speed. At the eastern en- 
trance of Lupata stand two conical hills ; they are composed of 
porphyry, having large square crystals therein. These hills are 
called Moenda en Goma, which means a footprint of a wild beast. 
Another conical hill on the opposite bank is named Kasisi (priest), 
from having a bald top. We sailed on quickly with the current 
of the river, and found that it spread out to more than two miles 
in breadth; it is, however, full of islands, which are generally cov- 
ered with reeds, and which, previous to the war, were inhabited, 
and yielded vast quantities of grain. We usually landed to cook 
breakfast, and then went on quickly. The breadth of water 
between the islands was now quite sufficient for a sailing vessel 
to tack, and work her sails in ; the prevailing winds would 
blow her up the stream ; but I regretted that I had not come 
when the river was at its lowest rather than at its highest. The 
testimony, however, of Captain Parker and Lieutenant Hoskins, 
hereafter to be noticed, may be considered conclusive as to the 
capabilities of this river for commercial purposes. The Portu- 
guese state that there is high water during five months of the 
year, and when it is low there is always a channel of deep 
water. But this is very winding ; and as the river wears awaj' 
some of the islands and forms others, the course of the channel 
is often altered. I suppose that an accurate chart of it made in 
one year would not be very reliable the next ; but I believe, 
from all that I can learn, that the river could be navigated 



702- - WAK-DKUM AT SHIRAMBA. 

in a small flat-bottomed steamer during the whole year as far as 
Tete. At this time a steamer of large size could have floated 
easily. The river was measured at the latter place by the 
Portuguese, and found by them to be 1050 yards broad. Thq 
body of water flowing past when I was there was very great, and 
the breadth it occupied when among the islands had a most 
imposing efiect. I could not get a glimpse of either shore. All 
the right bank beyond Lupata is low and flat : on the north, the 
ranges of hills and dark lines below them are seen, but from the 
boat it is impossible to see the shore. I only guess the breadth 
of the river to be two miles ; it is probably more. Next day we 
landed at Shiramba for breakfast, having sailed 8^ hours from 
Lupata. This was once the residence of a Portuguese brigadier, 
who spent large sums of money in embellishing his house and 
gardens : these we found in entire ruin, as his half-caste son had 
destroyed all, and then rebelled against the Portuguese, but with 
less success than either Nyaude or Kisaka, for he had been seized 
and sent a prisoner to Mozambique a short time before our visit. 
All the southern shore has been ravaged by the Caffres, who are 
here named Landeens, and most of the inhabitants who remain 
acknowledge the authority of Bonga, and not of the Portuguese. 
When at breakfast, the people of Shiramba commenced beating 
the drum of war. Lieutenant Miranda, who was well acquaint- 
ed with the customs of the country, immediately started to his 
feet, and got all the soldiers of our party under arms ; he then 
demanded of the natives why the drum was beaten while we were 
there. They gave an evasive reply ; and, as they employ this 
means of collecting their neighbors when they intend to rob 
canoes, our watchfulness may have prevented their proceeding 
farther. 

We spent the night of the 26th on the island called Nkuesi, 
opposite a remarkable saddle-shaped mountain, and found that 
we were just on the 17th parallel of latitude. The sail down the 
river was very fine ; the temperature becoming low, it was pleas- 
ant to the feelings ; but the shores being flat and far from us, the 
scenery was uninteresting. We breakfasted on the 27th at Pita, 
and found some half-caste Portuguese had established themselves 
there, after fleeing from the opposite bank to escape Kisaka's 
people, who were now ravaging all the Maganja country. On the 



SENNA: ITS RUINOUS STATE. 703 

afternoon of the 27th we arrived at Senna. (Commandant Isi- 
dore's house, 300 yards S.W. of the mud fort on the banks of the 
river: lat. 17° 27' V S., long. 35° 10' E.) We found Senna to 
be twenty-three and a half hours' sail from Tete. We had the 
current entirely in our favor, but met various parties in large 
canoes toiling laboriously against it. They use long ropes, and 
pull the boats from the shore. They usually take about twenty 
days to ascend the distance we had descended in about four. 
The wages paid to boatmen are considered high. Part of the 
men who had accompanied me gladly accepted employment from 
Lieutenant Miranda to take a load of goods in a canoe from Sen- 
na to Tete. 

I thought the state of Tete quite lamentable, but that of 
Senna was ten times worse. At Tete there is some life; here 
every thing is in a state of stagnation and ruin. The fort, built 
of sun-dried bricks, has the grass growing over the walls, which 
have been patched in some places by paling. The Landeens 
visit the village periodically, and levy fines upon the inhabitants, 
as they consider the Portuguese a conquered tribe, and very 
rarely does a native come to trade. Senhor Isidore, the qom- 
mandant, a man of considerable energy, had proposed to surround 
the whole village with palisades as a protection against the 
Landeens, and the villagers were to begin this work the day after 
I left. It was sad to look at the ruin manifest in every building, 
but the half-castes appear to be in league with the rebels and 
Landeens ; for when any attempt is made by the Portuguese to 
coerce the enemy or defend themselves, information is conveyed at 
once to the Landeen camp, and, though the commandant prohibits 
the payment of tribute to the Landeens, on their approach the half- 
castes eagerly ransom themselves. When I was there, a party of 
Kisaka's people were ravaging the fine country on the opposite 
shore. They came down with the prisoners they had captured, 
and forthwith the half-castes of Senna went over to buy slaves. 
Encouraged by this, Kisaka's people came over into Senna fully 
armed and beating their drums, and were received into the house 
of a native Portuguese. They had the village at their mercy, 
yet could have been driven off by half a dozen policemen. The 
commandant could only look on with bitter sorrow. He had 
soldiers, it is true, but it is notorious that the native militia of 



704 * ATTEMPTS TO EEVIVE TRADE. 

both Senna and Kilimane never think of standing to fight, but 
invariably run away, and leave their officers to be killed. They 
are brave only among the peacer^ble inhabitants. One of them, 
sent from Kilimane with a packet of letters or expresses, arrived 
while I was at Senna. He had been charged to deliver them 
with all speed, but Senhor Isidore had in the mean time gone to 
Kilimane, remained there a fortnight, and reached Senna again 
before the courier came. He could not punish him. We gave 
him a passage in our boat, but he left us in the way to visit his 
wife, and, "on urgent private business," probably gave up the 
service altogether, as he did not come to Kilimane all the time 
I was there. It is impossible to describe the miserable state of 
decay into which the Portuguese possessions here have sunk. 
The revenues are not equal to the expenses, and every officer I 
met told the same tale, that he had not received one farthing of 
pay for the last four years. They are all forced to engage in 
trade for the support of their families. Senhor Miranda had been 
actually engaged against the enemy during these four years, and 
had been highly lauded in the commandant's dispatches to the 
home government, but when he applied to the Governor of Kili- 
mane for part of his four years' pay, he offered him twenty dol- 
lars only. Miranda resigned his commission in consequence. 
The common soldiers sent out from Portugal received some pay 
in calico. They all marry native women, and, the soil being- 
very fertile, the wives find but little difficulty in supporting their 
husbands. There is no direct trade with Portugal. A consid- 
erable number of Banians, or natives of India, come annually in 
small vessels with cargoes of English and Indian goods from' 
Bombay. It is not to be wondered at, then, that there have 
been attempts made of late years by speculative Portuguese in 
Lisbon to revive the trade of Eastern Africa by means of mercan- 
tile companies. One was formally proposed, which was modeled 
on the plan of our East India Company ; and it was actually im- 
agined that all the forts, harbors, lands, etc., might be delivered 
over to a company, which would bind itself to develop the re- 
sources of the country, build schools, make roads, improve har- 
bors, etc., and, after all, leave the Portuguese the option of resum- 
ing possession. 

Another effort has been made to attract commercial enterprise 



COUNTRY ROUND SENNA. 705 

to this region by offering any mining company permission to 
searcli for the ores and work them. Such a company, however, 
woukl gain but little in the way of protection or aid from the 
government of Mozambique, as that can but barely maintain 
a hold on its own small possessions ; the condition affixed of 
importing at the company's own cost a certain number of 
Portuguese from the island of Madeira or the Azores, in order 
to increase tlie Portuguese population in Africa, is impolitic. 
Taxes would also be levied on the minerals exported. It is 
noticeable that all the companies which have been proposed 
in Portugal have this put prominently in the preamble, "and 
for the abolition of the inhuman slave-trade." This shows 
either that the statesmen in Portugal are enlightened and philan- 
thropic, or it may be meant as a trap for English capitalists ; 
I incline to believe the former. If the Portuguese really wish 
to develop the resources of the rich country beyond their pos- 
sessions, they ought to invite the co-operation of other nations 
on equal terms with themselves. Let the pathway into the in- 
terior be free to all ; and, instead of wretched forts, with scarcely 
an acre of land around them which can be called their own, let 
real colonies be made. If, instead of military establishments, 
we had civil ones, and saw emigrants going out with their wives, 
plows, and seeds, rather than military convicts with bugles and 
kettle-drums, we might hope for a return of prosperity to Eastern 
Africa. 

The village of Senna stands on the right bank of the Zambesi. 
There are many reedy islands in front of it, and there is much 
bush in the country adjacent. The soil is fertile, but the village, 
being in a state of ruin, and having several pools of stagnant 
water, is very unhealthy. The bottom rock is the akose of 
Brongniart, or granitic grit, and several conical" hills of trap have 
burst through it. One standing about half a mile west of the 
village is called Baramuana, which has another behind it ; hence 
the name, which means " carry a child on the back." It is 300 
or 400 feet high, and on the top lie two dismounted cannon, 
which were used to frighten away the Landeens, who, in one 
attack upon Senna, killed 150 of the inhabitants. The prospect 
from Baramuana is very fine ; below, on the eastward, lies the 
Zambesi, with the village of Senna ; and some twenty or thirty 

Yy 



706 JESUIT STATION. 

miles "beyond stands the lofty mountain MorumMla, probably 
3000 or 4000 feet high. It is of an oblong shape, and from its 
physiognomy, which can be distinctly seen when the sun is in 
the west, is evidently igneous. On the northern end there is a 
hot sulphurous fountain, which my Portuguese friends refused 
to allow me to visit, because the mountain is well peopled, and 
the mountaineers are at present not friendly with the Portu- 
guese. They have plenty of garden-ground and running water 
on its summit. My friends at Senna declined the responsibility 
of taking me into danger. To the north of Morumbala we have 
a fine view of the mountains of the Maganja ; they here come 
close to the river, and terminate in Morumbala. Many of them 
are conical, and the Shire is reported to flow among them, and 
to run on the Senna side of Morumbala before joining the 
Zambesi. On seeing the confluence afterward, close to a low 
range of hills beyond Morumbala, I felt inclined to doubt the 
report, as the Shire must then flow parallel with the Zambesi, 
from which Morumbala seems distant only twenty or thirty 
miles. All around to the southeast the country is flat, and cov- 
ered with forest, but near Senna a number of little abrupt conical 
hills diversify the scenery. To the west and north the country 
is also flat forest, which gives it a sombre appearance ; but just 
in the haze of the horizon southwest by south, there rises a 
mountain range equal in height to Morumbala, and called Nya- 
monga. In a clear day another range beyond this may be seen, 
which is Gorongozo, once a station of the Jesuits. Gorongozo 
is famed for its clear cold waters and healthiness, and there are 
some inscriptions engraved on large square slabs on the top of 
the mountain, which have probably been the work of the fathers. 
As this lies in the direction of a district between Manica and 
Sofala, which has been conjectured to be the Ophir of King Solo- 
mon, the idea that first sprang up in my mind was, that these 
monuments might be more ancient than the Portuguese ; but, on 
questioning some persons who had seen them, I found that they 
were in Roman characters, and did not deserve a journey of six 
days to see them. » 

Manica lies three days northwest of Gorongozo, and is the 
best gold country known in Eastern Africa. The onlj evidence 
the Portuguese have of its being the ancient Ophir is, that a£ 



BOAT-BUILDING. 7O7 

Sofala, its nearest port, pieces of wrought gold have been dug up 
near the ibrt and in the gardens. They also report the existence 
of hewn stones in the neighborhood, but these can not have been 
abundant, for all the stones of the fort of Sofala are said to have 
been brought from Portugal. Natives whom I met in the country 
of Sekeletu, from Manica, or Manoa, as they call it, state that there 
are several caves in the country, and w^alls of hewn stones, which 
they believe to have been made by their ancestors ; and there is, 
according to the Portuguese, a small tribe of Arabs there, who 
have become completely like the otiier natives. Two rivers, the 
Motirikwe and Sabia, or Sabe, run through their country into the 
sea. The Portuguese were driven out of the country by the Lan- 
deens, but now talk of reoccupying Manica. 

The most pleasant sight I witnessed at Senna was the negroes 
of Senhor Isidore building boats after the European model, with- 
out any one to superintend their operations. They had been in- 
structed by a European master, but now go into the forest and 
cut down the motondo-trees, lay down the keel, fit in the ribs, 
and make very neat boats and launches, valued at from £20 to 
£100. Senhor Isidore had some of them instructed also in car- 
pentry at Rio Janeiro, and they constructed for him the hand- 
somest house in Kilimane, the woodwork being all of country 
trees, some of which are capable of a fine polish, and very dur- 
able. A medical opinion having been asked by the commandant 
respecting a better site for the village, which, lying on tlie low 
bank of the Zambesi, is very unhealthy, I recommended imitation 
of the Jesuits, who had chosen the high, healthy mountain of Go- 
rongozo, and to select a new site on Morumbala, which is perfectly 
healthy, well watered, and where the Shire is deep enough for the 
purpose of navigation at its base. As the next resource, I pro- 
posed removal to the harbor of Mitilone, which is at one of 
the mouths of the Zambesi, a much better port than Kilimane, 
and where, if they must have the fever, they would be in tlie 
way of doing more good to themselves and the country than 
they can do in their present situation. Had the Portuguese pos- 
sessed this territory as a real colony, this important point would 
not have been left unoccupied ; as it is, there is not even a na- 
tive village placed at the entrance of this splendid river to show 
the way in. 



708 CAPTUEE OF A EEBEL STOCKADE. 

On the 9th of May sixteen of my men were employed to car- 
ry government goods in canoes up to Tete. They were much 
pleased at getting this work. On the 11th the whole of the in- 
habitants of Senna, with the commandant, accompanied us to the 
boats. A venerable old man, son of a judge, said they were in 
much sorrow on account of the miserable state of decay into 
which they had sunk, and of the insolent conduct of the people 
of Kisaka now in the village. We were abundantly supplied 
with provisions by the commandant and Senhor Ferrao, and sail- 
ed pleasantly down the broad river. About thirty miles below 
Senna we passed the mouth of the Eiver Zangwe on our right, 
which farther up goes by the name of Pungwe ; and about five 
miles farther on our left, close to the end of a low range into 
which Morumbala merges, we crossed the mouth of the Shire, 
which seemed to be about 200 yards broad. A little inland from 
the confluence there is another rebel stockade, which was attacked 
by Ensign Kebeiro with three European soldiers, and captured ; 
they disarmed the rebels and threw the guns into the water. This 
ensign and Miranda volunteered to disperse the people of Kisaka 
who were riding roughshod over the inhabitants of Senna ; but 
the offer was declined, the few real Portuguese fearing the disloy- 
al half-castes among whom they dwelt. Slavery and immorali- 
ty have here done their work ; nowhere else does the European 
name stand at so low an ebb ; but what can be expected ? Few 
Portuguese women are ever taken to the colonies, and here I did 
not observe that honorable regard for the offspring which I no- 
ticed in Angola. The son of a late governor of Tete was pointed 
out to me in the condition and habit of a slave. There is neither 
priest nor school at Senna, though there are ruins of churches and 
convents. 

On passing the Shire we observed great quantities of the plant 
Alfacinya, already mentioned, floating down into the Zambesi. It 
is probably the Pistia stratiotes, a gigantic " duck- weed." It 
was mixed with quantities of another aquatic plant, which the 
Barotse named " Njefu," containing in the petiole of the leaf a 
pleasant-tasted nut. This was so esteemed by Sebituane that he 
made it part of his tribute from the subjected tribes. Dr. Hook- 
er kindly informs me that the njefu "is probably a species of 
Trapa, the nuts of which are eaten in the south of Europe and in 



THE NJEFU.— MAZARO. 709 

India. Government derives a large revenue from them in Kash- 
mir, amounting to £12,000 per annum for 128,000 ass-loads ! 
The ancient Thracians are said to have eaten them largely. In 
the south of France they are called water-chestnuts." The exist- 
ence of these plants in such abundance in the Shire may show 
that it flows from large collections of still water. We found them 
growing in all the still branches and lagoons of the Leeambye in 
the far north, and there also we met a beautiful little floating plant, 
the Azolla Nilotica, which is found in the upper Nile. They are 
seldom seen in flowing streams. 

A few miles beyond the Shire we left the hills entirely, and 
sailed between extensive flats. The banks seen in the distance 
are covered with trees. We slept on a large inhabited island, 
and then came to the entrance of the River Mutu (latitude 18° Z' 
3T^ S., longitude 35° 46^ E.) : the point of departure is called 
Mazaro, or "mouth of the Mutu." The people who live on the 
north are called Baroro, and their country Bororo. The whole of 
the right bank is in subjection to the Landeens, who, it was imag- 
ined, would levy a tribute upon us, for this they are accustomed to 
do to passengers. I regret that we did not meet them, for, though 
they are named Caffres, I am not sure whether they are of the 
Zulu family or of the Mashona. I should have liked to form their 
acquaintance, and to learn what they really think of white men. 
I understood from Sekwebu, and from one of Changamera's people 
who lives at Linyanti, and was present at the attack on Senna, 
that they consider the whites as a conquered tribe. 

The Zambesi at Mazaro is a magnificent river, more than 
half a mile wide, and without islands. The opposite bank is 
covered with forests of fine timber ; but the delta which begins 
here is only an immense flat, covered with high, coarse grass 
and reeds, with here and there a few mango and cocoanut 
trees. This was the point which was reached b^' the late la- 
mented Captain Parker, who fell at the Sulina mouth of tlie 
Danube. I had a strong desire to follow the Zambesi farther, 
and ascertain where this enormous body of water found its way 
into the sea ; but on hearing from the Portuguese that he had 
ascended to this point, and had been highly pleased with the 
capabilities of the river, I felt sure that his valuable opinion 
must be in possession of the Admiralty. On my arrival iu 



710 CAPTAIN HYDE PARKER ON THE 

England I applied to Captain Washington, Hydrographer to the 
Admiralty, and he promptly furnished the document for publica- 
tion by the Koyal Geographical Society. 

The river between Mazaro and the sea must therefore be judged 
of from the testimony of one more competent to decide on its merits 
than a mere landsman like myself. 

On the Quilimane and Zambesi Rivers. From the Journal of 
the late Capt. Hyde Paekee, K.N., H.M. Brig "Pantaloon." 

"The Luabo is the main outlet of the Great Zambesi. In 
the rainy season — January and February principally — the whole 
country is overflowed, and the water escapes by the different 
rivers as far up as Quilimane; but in the dry season neither 
Quilimane nor Olinda communicates with it. The position of 
the river is rather incorrect in the Admiralty chart, being six 
miles too much to the southward, and also considerably to the 
westv/ard. Indeed, the coast from here up to Tongamiara seems 
too far to the westward. The entrance to the Luabo River is 
about two miles broad, and is easily distinguishable, when abreast 
of it, by a bluff (if I may so term it) of high, straight trees, very 
close together, on the western side of the entrance. The bar may- 
be said to be formed by two series of sand-banks ; that running 
from the eastern point runs diagonally across (opposite ?) the en- 
trance and nearly across it. Its w^estern extremity is about two 
miles outside the west point. 

" The bank running out from the west point projects to the 
southward three miles and a half, passing not one quarter of a 
mile from the eastern or cross bank. This narrow passage is the 
har passage. It breaks completely across at low water, except 
under very extraordinary circumstances. At this time — ^low water 
— a great portion of the banks are uncovered ; in some places they 
are seven or eight feet above water. 

" On these banks there is a break at all times, but in fine 
weather, at high water, a boat may cross near the east point. 
There is very little water, and, in places, a nasty race and bub- 
ble, so that caution is requisite. The best directions for going in 
over the regular bar passage, according to my experience, are aa 
follows ; Steer down well to the eastward of the bar passage, 
so as to avoid the outer part of the western shoals, on which 



QUILIMANE AND ZAMBESI. 711 

there is usually a bad sea. When you get near the cross-bar^ 
keep along it till the bluff of trees on the west side of the entrance 
bears N.E. ; you may then steer straight for it. This will clear 
the end of the cross-bar, and, directly you are within that, the 
water is smooth. The worst sea is generally just without the 
bar passage. 

"Within the points the river widens at first and then contracts 
again. About three miles from the Tree Bluff is an island ; the 
passage up the river is the right-hand side of it, and deep. The 
plan will best explain it. The rise and fall of the tide at the 
entrance of the river being at springs twenty feet, any vessel can 
get in at that time, but, with all these conveniences for traffic, 
there is none here at present. The water in the river is fresh 
down to the bar with the ebb tide, and in the rainy season it is 
fresh at the surface quite outside. In the rainy season, at the 
full and change of the moon, the Zambesi frequently overflows 
its banks, making the country for an immense distance one great 
lake, with only a few small eminences above the water. On the 
banks of the river the huts are built on piles, and at these times 
the communication is only in canoes ; but the waters do not 
remain up more than three or four days at a time. The first 
village is about eight miles up the river, on the western bank, 
and is opposite to another branch of the river called ' Muselo,' 
which discharges itself into the sea about five miles to the east- 
ward. 

" The village is extensive, and about it there is a very large 
quantity of land in cultivation ; calavances, or beans, of different 
sorts, rice, and pumpkins, are the principal things. I saw also 
about here some wild cotton, apparently of very good quality, 
but none is cultivated. The land is so fertile as to produce 
almost any (thing?) without much trouble. 

"At this village is a very large house, mud-built, with a court- 
'yard. I believe it to have been used as a barracoon for slaves, 
several large cargoes having been exported from this river. I 
proceeded up the river as far as its junction with the Quilimane 
Kiver, called ' Boca do Bio,' by my computation between 70 and 
80 miles from the entrance. The influence of the tides is felt 
about 25 or 30 miles up the river. Above that, the stream, in 
the dry season, runs from 1^ to 2^ miles an hour, but in the 



712 CAPTAIN HYDE PAEKEE ON THE 

rains much stronger. The banks of the river, for the first 30 
miles, are generally thickly clothed with trees, with occasional 
open glades. There are many huts and villages on both sides, 
and a great deal of cultivation. At one village, about 17 miles 
up on the eastern bank, and distinguished by being surrounded 
by an immense number of bananas and plantain-trees, a great 
quantity of excellent peas are cultivated ; also cabbages, tomatoes, 
onions, etc. Above this there are not many inhabitants on the 
left or west bank, although it is much the finest country, being 
higher, and abounding in cocoanut palms, the eastern bank be- 
ing sandy and barren. The reason is, that some years back the 
Landeens, or CafFres, ravaged all this country, killing the men 
and taking the women as slaves, but they have never crossed the 
river; hence the natives are afraid to settle on the west bank, 
and the Portuguese owners of the different 'prasos' have virtu- 
ally lost them. The banks of the river continue mostly sandy, 
with few trees, except some cocoanut palms, until the southern 
end of the large plantation of Nyangiie, formed by the river about 
20 miles from Maruru. Here the country is more populous and 
better cultivated, the natives a finer race, and the huts larger and 
better constructed. Maruru belongs to Senor Asevedo, of Quil- 
imane, well known to all English officers on the east coast for his 
hospitality. 

"The climate here is much cooler than nearer the sea, and 
Asevedo has successfully cultivated most European as well as 
tropical vegetables. The sugar-cane thrives, as also coffee and 
cotton, and indigo is a weed. Cattle here are beautiful, and 
some of them might show with credit in England. The natives 
are intelligent, and under a good government this fine country 
might become very valuable. Three miles from Maruru is Me- 
san, a very pretty village among palm and mango trees. There 
is here a good house belonging to a Senor Ferrao ; close by is 
the canal (Mtitu) of communication between the Quilimane and 
Zambesi rivers, which in the rainy season is navigable (?). I 
visited it in the month of October, which is about the dryest time 
of the year ; it was then a dry canal, about 30 or 40 yards wide, 
overgrown with trees and grass, and, at the bottom, at least 16 
or 17 feet above the level of the Zambesi, which was running be- 
neath. In the rains, by the marks I saw, the entrance rise of the 



QUILIMANE AND ZAMBESI. 713 

river must be very nearly 30 feet, and the volume of water dis- 
charged by it (the Zambesi) enormous. 

"Above Maruru the country begins to become more hilly, and 
the high mountains of Boruru are in sight; the first view of 
these is obtained below Nyangue, and they must be of considera- 
ble height, as from this they are distant above 40 miles. They 
are reported to contain great mineral wealth ; gold and copper be- 
ing found in the range, as also coal (?). The natives (Landeens) 
are a bold, independent race, who do not acknowledge the Portu- 
guese authority, and even make them pay for leave to pass un- 
molested. Throughout the whole course of the river hippopota- 
mi were very abundant, and at one village a chase by the natives 
was witnessed. They harpoon the animal with a barbed lance, 
to which is attached, by a cord 3 or 4 fathoms long, an inflated 
bladder. The natives follow in their canoes, and look out to fix 
more harpoons as the animal rises to blow, and, when exhausted, 
dispatch him with their lances. It is, in fact, nearly similar to 
a whale-hunt. Elephants and lions are also abundant on the 
western side; the latter destroy many of the blacks annually, 
and are much feared by them. Alligators are said to be numer- 
ous, but I did not see any. 

" The voyage up to Maruru occupied seven days, as I did not 
work the men at the oar, but it might be done in four ; we re- 
turned to the bar in two and a half days. 

" There is another mouth of the Zambesi seven miles to the 
westward of Luabo, which was visited by the ' Castor's pinnace ;' 
and I was assured by Lieutenant Hoskins that the bar was better 
than the one I visited." 

The conclusions of Captain Parker are strengthened by those 
of Lieut. A. H. H. Hoskins, who was on the coast at the same 
time, and also visited this spot. Having applied to my friend 
for his deliberate opinion on the subject, he promptly furnished 
the following note in January last : 

" The Zambesi appears to have five principal mouths, of which 
the Luabo is the most southern and most navigable ; Cumana, 
and two whose names I do not know, not having myself visited 
it, lying between it and the Quilimane, and the rise and fall at 
spring tides on the bar of the Luabo is 22 feet ; and as, in the 



714 LIEUTENANT HO SKINS' EEMAEKS. 

passage, there is never less than four feet (I having crossed it at 
dead low-water — springs), this would give an average depth suffi- 
cient for any commercial purposes. The rise and fall is six feet 
greater, the passages narrow and more defined, consequently deeper 
and more easily found than that of the Quilimane River. The 
river above the bar is very tortuous, but deep ; and it is observ- 
able that the influence of the tide is felt mucli higher in this 
branch than in the others ; for whereas in the Catrina and Cu- 
mana I have obtained drinkable water a very short distance from 
the mouth, in the Luabo I have ascended seventy miles without 
finding the saltness perceptibly diminished. This would facilitate 
navigation, and I have no hesitation in saying that little difiiculty 
would be experienced in conveying a steam-vessel of the size and 
capabilities of the gunboat I lately commanded as high as the 
branching off of the Quilimane Eiver (Mazaro), which, in the dry 
season, is observed many yards above the Luabo (main stream) ; 
though I have been told by the Portuguese that the freshes which 
come down in December and March fill it temporarily. TJiese 
freshes deepen the river considerably at that time of the year, and 
freshen the water many miles from the coast. The population of 
the delta, except in the immediate neighborhood of the Portu- 
guese, appeared to be very sparse. Antelopes and hippopotami 
were plentiful ; the former tame and easily shot. I inquired fre- 
quently of both natives and Portuguese if slavers were in the 
habit of entering there to ship their cargoes, but could not ascer- 
tain that they have ever done so in any except the Quilimane. 
AVith common precaution the rivers are not unhealthy ; for, dur- 
ing the whole time I was employed in them (ofi" and on during 
eighteen months), in open boats and at all times of the year, fre- 
quently absent from tjhe ship for a month or six weeks at a time, 
I had not, in my boat's crew of fourteen men, more than two, and 
those mild, cases of fever. Too much importance can not be 
ascribed to the use of quinine, to which I attribute our compara- 
tive immunity, and with which our judicious commander, Commo- 
dore Wyvill, kept us amply supplied. I hope these few remarks 
may be of some little use in confirming your views of the utility 
of that magnificent river. 

"A. H. H. HosKiNS." 



THE MUTU. 715 

It ought to be reraemlDered that the testimony of these gentle- 
men is all the more valuable, because they visited the river when 
the water was at its lowest, and the surface of the Zambesi was 
not, as it was now, on a level with and flowing into the Mutu, 
but sixteen feet beneath its bed. The Mutu, at the point of de- 
parture, was only ten or twelve yards broad, shallow, and filled 
with aquatic plants. Trees and reeds along the banks overhang 
it so much, that, though we had brought canoes and a boat from 
Tete, we were unable to enter the Mutu with them, and left 
them at Mazaro. During most of the year this part of the 
Mutu is dry, and we were even now obliged to carry all our 
luggage by land for about fifteen miles. As Kilimane is called, 
in all the Portuguese documents, the capital of the rivers of 
Senna, it seemed strange to me that the capital should be built 
at a point where there was no direct water conveyance to the 
magnificent river whose name it bore ; and, on inquiry, I was in- 
formed that the whole of the Mutu was large in days of yore, and 
admitted of the free passage of great launches from Kilimane all 
the year round, but that now this part of the Mutu had been 
filled up. 

I was seized by a severe tertian fever at Mazaro, but went 
alono- the right bank of the Mutu to the N.N.E. and E. for about 
fifteen miles. We then found that it was made navigable by a 
river called the Pangazi, which comes into it from the north. 
Another river, flowing from the same direction, called the Luare, 
swells it still more ; and, last of all, the Likuare, with the tide, 
make up the river of Kilimane. The Mutu at Mazaro is simply 
a connecting link, such as is so often seen in Africa, and neither 
its flow nor stoppage affects the river of Kilimane. The waters 
of the Pangazi were quite clear compared with those of the 
Zambesi.* 

* I owe the following information, of a much later date, also to the politeness 
of Captain Washington. H. M. sloop " Grecian" visited the coast in 1852-3, and 
the master remarks that "the entrance to the Luabo is in lat. 18° 51' S., long. 36° 
12' E., and may be known by a range of hummocks on its eastern side, arid very 
low land to the S.W. The entrance is narrow, and, as with all the rivers on this 
coast, is fronted by a bar, which renders the navigation, particularly for boats, very 
dangerous with the wind to the south of east or west. Our boats proceeded twenty 
miles up this river, 2 fathoms on the bar, then 2^ — 5— G — 7 fathoms. It was navi- 
gable farther up, but they did not proceed. It is quite possible for a moderate-sized 



716 ' EFFECTS OF FEVER. 

My fever became excessively severe in consequence of travel- 
ing in the hot sun, and the long grass blocking up the narrow 
path so as to exclude the air. The pulse beat with amazing 
force, and felt as if thumping against the crown of the head. 
The stomach and spleen swelled enormously, giving me, for the 
first time, an appearance which I had been disposed to laugh at 
among the Portuguese. At Interra we met Senhor Asevedo, a 
man who is well known by all who ever visited Kilimane, and 
who was presented with a gold chronometer watch by the Ad- 
miralty for his attentions to English officers. He immediately 
tendered his large sailing launch, which had a house in the stern. 
This was greatly in my favor, for it anchored in the middle of 
the stream, and gave me some rest from the musquitoes, which 
in the whole of the delta are something frightful. Sailing com- 

vessel to cross the bar at spring tides, and be perfectly landlocked and hidden 
among the trees. 

"The Maiiido, in 18° 52' S., 36° 12' E., is not mentioned in Horsburgh, nor 
laid down in the Admiralty chart, but is, nevertheless, one of some importance, 
and appears to be one of the principal stations for shipping slaves, as the boats 
found two barracoons, about 20 miles up, bearing every indication of having been 
very recently occupied, and which had good presumptive evidence that the ' Cau- 
raigo,' a brig under American colors, had embarked a cargo from thence but a 
short time before. The river is fronted by a portion of the Elephant Shoals, at 
the distance of three or four miles outside. The eastern bank is formed by level 
sea-cliffs (as seen from the ship it has that appearance), high for this part of the 
coast, and conspicuous. The western side is composed of thick trees, and termi- 
nates in dead wood, from which we called it ' Dead-wood Point.' After crossing 
the bar it branches off in a W. and N.W. direction, the latter being the principal 
arm, up which the boats went some 30 miles, or about 10 beyond the barracoon. 
Fresh water can be obtained almost immediately inside the entrance, as the sti-eam 
runs down very rapidly with the ebb tide. The least water crossing the bar (low- 
water — springs) was 1^ fathom, one cast only therefrom from 2 to 5 fathoms, 
another 7 fathoms nearly the whole way up. 

"The Catrina, latitude 18° 50' south, longitude 36° 24' east. The exter- 
nal appearance of this river is precisely similar to that of the Maiudo, so 
much so that it is difBcult to distinguish them by any feature of the land. 
The longitude is the best guide, or, in the absence of observation, perhaps 
the angles contained by the extremes of land will be serviceable. Thus, at 
nine miles off the Maiudo the angle contained by the above was seven points, 
the bearing being N.E. W. of N.W. (?) ; while off the Catrina, at the same 
distance from shore (about nine miles), the angle was only 3i- to 4 points, be- 
ing N. to N.W. As we did not send the boats up this river, no information 
was obtained." 



THE AUTHOR'S OBLIGATIONS. 717 

fortably in this commodious launch along the river of Kilimane, 
we reached that village (latitude 17° 53' 8"' S., longitude 36° 
40' E.) on the 20th of May, 1856, which wanted only a few days 
of beino- four years since I started from Cape Town. Here I 
was received into the house of Colonel Galdino Jose Nunes, one 
of the best men in the country. I had been three years without 
hearing from my family; letters having frequently been sent, 
but somehow or other, with but a single exception, they never 
reached me. I received, however, a letter from Admiral Trot- 
ter, conveying information of their welfare, and some newspapers, 
which were a treat indeed. Her majesty's brig the "Frolic" 
had called to inquire for me in the November previous, and Cap- 
tain Nolluth, of that ship, had most considerately left a case of 
wine ; and his surgeon, Dr. James Walsh, divining what I should 
need most, left an ounce of quinine. These gifts made my heart 
overflow. I had not tasted any liquor whatever during the time 
I had been in Africa ; but when reduced in Angola to extreme 
weakness, I found much benefit from a little wine, and took 
from Loanda one bottle of brandy in my medicine chest, intend- 
ing to use it if it were again required ; but the boy who car- 
ried it whirled the box upside down, and smashed the bottle, so 
I can not give my testimony either in favor of or against the 

brandy. 

But my joy on reaching the east coast was sadly imbittered 
by the news that Commander MacLune, of H. M. brigantine 
"Dart," on coming in to Kilimane to pick me up, had, with 
Lieutenant Woodruflfe and five men, been lost on the bar. I 
never felt more poignant sorrow. It seemed as if it would have 
been easier for me to have died for them, than that they should 
all be cut off from the joys of life in generously attempting to 
render me a service. I would here acknowledge my deep obli- 
gations to the Earl of Clarendon, to the admiral at the Cape, 
and others, for the kind interest they manifested in my safety ; 
even the inquiries made were very much to my advantage. I 
also refer with feehngs of gratitude to the Governor of Mozam- 
bique for offering me a passage in the schooner "Zambesi," 
belonging to that province ; and I shall never forget the gener- 
ous hospitality of Colonel Nunes and his nephew, witli whom 
I remained. One of the discoveries I have made is that there 



718 DEVELOPING EESOUKCES OF INTERIOE. 

iire vast numbers of good people in the world, and I do most 
devoutly tender my unfeigned thanks to that Gracious One who 
mercifully watched over me in every position, and influenced the 
hearts of both black and white to regard me with favor. 

With the united te&timony of Captain Parker and Lieutenant 
Hoskins, added to my own observation, there can be no reason- 
able doubt but that the real mouth of the Zambesi is available 
for the purposes of commerce. The delta is claimed by the 
Portuguese, and the southern bank of the Luabo, or Cuama, as 
this p^t of the Zambesi is sometimes called, is owned by inde- 
pendent natives of the Caffre family. The Portuguese are thus 
near the main entrance to the new central region ; and as they 
have of late years shown, in an enlightened and liberal spirit, 
their desire to develop the resources of Eastern Africa by pro- 
claiming Mozambique a free port, it is to be hoped that the same 
spirit will lead them to invite mercantile enterprise up the Zam- 
besi, by offering facilities to those who may be led to push com- 
merce into the regions lying far beyond their territory. Their 
wish to co-operate in the noble work of developing the resources 
of the rich country beyond could not be shown better than by 
placing a village with Zambesian pilots at the harbor of Mitilone, 
and erecting a light-house for the guidance of seafaring men. K 
this were done, no nation would be a greater gainer by it than 
the Portuguese themselves, and assuredly no other needs a resus- 
citation of its commerce more. Their kindness to me personally 
makes me wish for a return of their ancient prosperity ; and 
the most liberal and generous act of the enlightened young king 
H. M. Don Pedro, in sending out orders to support my late 
companions at the public expense of the province of Mozam- 
bique until my return to claim them, leads me to hope for 
encouragement in every measure for either the development of 
commerce, the elevation of the natives, or abolition of the trade in 
slaves. 

As far as I am myself concerned, the opening of the new 
central country is a matter for congratulation only in so far as it 
opens up a prospect for the elevation of the inhabitants. As 
I have elsewhere remarked, I view the end of the geographical 
feat as the beginning of the missionary entei^rise. I take the 
latter term in its most extended signification, and include every 



TllE AUTHOR'S OBJECTS. 719 

effort made for the amelioration of our race, the promotion of all 
those means by which God in His providence is working, and 
bringing all His dealings with man to a glorious consummation. 
Each man in his sphere, either knowingly or unwittingly, is per- 
forming the will of our Father in heaven. Men of science, search- 
ing after hidden truths, which, when discovered, will, like the elec- 
tric telegraph, bind men more closely together — soldiers battling 
for the right against tyranny — sailors rescuing the victims of 
oppression from the grasp of heartless men-stealers — merchants 
teaching the nations lessons of mutual dependence — and many 
others, as well as missionaries, all work in the same direction, 
and all efforts are overruled for one glorious end. 

If the reader has accompanied me thus far, he may, perhaps, 
be disposed to take an interest in the objects I propose to myself, 
should God mercifully grant me the honor of doing something 
more for Africa. As the highlands on the borders of the central 
basin are comparatively healthy, the first object seems to be to 
secure a permanent path thither, in order that Europeans may 
pass as quickly as possible through the unhealthy region near 
the coast. The river has not been surveyed, but at the time 
I came down there was abundance of water for a large vessel, 
and this continues to be the case during four or five months of 
each year. The months of low water still admit of navigation by 
launches, and would permit small vessels equal to the Thames 
steamers to ply with ease in the deep channel. If a steamer 
were sent to examine the Zambesi, I would recommend one of 
the lightest draught, and the months of May, June, and July 
for passing through the delta ; and this not so much for fear of 
want of water as the danger of being grounded on a sand or 
mud bank, and the healtli of the crew being endangered by the 
delay. 

In the months referred to no obstruction would be incurred 
in the channel below Tete. Twenty or thirty miles above that 
point we have a small rapid, of which I regret my inability to 
speak, as (mentioned already) I did not visit it. But, taking the 
distance below this point, we have, in round numbers, 300 miles 
of navigable river. Above this rapid we have another reach of 
300 'miles, with sand, but no mud banks in it, which brings us to 
the foot of the eastern ridge. Let it not, however, be thought 



720 THE AUTHOE'S OBJECTS. 

that a vessel loy going thither would return laden with ivory and 
gold-dust. The Portuguese of Tete pick up all the merchandise 
of the tribes in their vicinity, and, though I came out by trav- 
ersing the people with whom the Portuguese have been at war, 
it does not follow that it will be perfectly safe for others to go in 
whose goods may be a stronger temptation to cupidity than any 
thing I possessed. When we get beyond the hostile population 
mentioned, we reach a very different race. On the latter my 
chief hopes at present rest. All of them, however, are willing 
and anxious to engage in trade, and, while eager for this, none 
have ever been encouraged to cultivate the raw materials of 
commerce. Their country is well adapted for cotton ; and I 
venture to entertain the hope that by distributing seeds of better 
kinds than that which is found indigenous, and stimulating the 
natives to cultivate it by affording them the certainty of a market 
for all they may produce, we may engender a feeling of mutual 
dependence between them and ourselves. I have a twofold 
object in view, and believe that, by guiding our missionary la- 
bors so as to benefit our own country, we shall thereby more 
effectually and permanently benefit the heathen. Seven years 
were spent at Kolobeng in instructing my friends there ; but 
the country being incapable of raising materials for exportation, 
when the Boers made their murderous attack and scattered the 
tribe for a season, none sympathized except a few Christian 
friends. Had the people of Kolobeng been in the habit of rais- 
ing the raw materials of English commerce, the outrage would 
have been felt in England ; or, what is more likely to have been 
the case, the people would have raised themselves in the scale by 
barter, and have become, like the Basutos of Moshesh and people 
of Kuruman, possessed of fire-arms, and the Boers would never 
have made the attack at all. We ought to encourage the Afri- 
cans to cultivate for our markets, as the most effectual means, 
next to the Gospel, of their elevation. 

It is in the hope of working out this idea that I propose the 
formation of stations on the Zambesi beyond the Portuguese 
territory, but having communication through them with the 
coast. A chain of stations admitting of easy and speedy inter- 
course, such as might be formed along the flank of the eastern 
ridge, would be in a favorable position for carrying out the 



ARRANGEMENTS ON LEAVING AERICA. 721 

objects in view. The London Missionary Society has resolved 
to have a station among the Makololo on the north bank, and 
another on the south among the Matebele. The Church — Wes- 
leyan, Baptist, and that most energetic body, the Free Church — 
could each find desirable locations among the Batoka and adja- 
cent tribes. The country is so extensive there is no fear of 
clashinp;. All classes of Christians find that sectarian rancor 
soon dies out when they are working together among and for the 
real heathen. Only let the healthy locality be searched for and 
fixed upon, and then there will be free scope to work in the same 
cause in various directions, without that loss of men which the 
system of missions on the unhealthy coasts entails. While re- 
spectfully submitting the plan to these influential societies, I can 
positively state that, when fairly in the interior, there is perfect 
security for life and property among a people who will at least 
listen and reason. 

Eight of my men begged to be allowed to come as far as Kili- 
mane, and, thinking that they would there see the ocean, I 
consented to their coming, though the food was so scarce in 
consequence of a dearth that they were compelled to suffer some 
hunger. They would fain have come farther ; for when Sekeletu 
parted with them, his orders were that none of them should turn 
until they had reached Ma Eobert and brought her back with 
them. On my explaining the difficulty of crossing the sea, he 
said, "Wherever you lead, they must follow." As I did not 
know well how I should get home myself, I advised them to go 
back to Tete, where food was abundant, and there await my 
return. I bought a quantity of calico and brass wire with ten 
of the smaller tusks which we had in our charge, and sent the 
former back as clothing to those who remained at Tete. As 
there were still twenty tusks left, I deposited them with Colonel 
Nunes, that, in the event of any thing happening to prevent my 
return, the impression might not be produced in the country 
that I had made away with Sekeletu's ivory. I instructed 
Colonel Nunes, in case of my death, to sell the tusks and deliver 
the proceeds to my men; but I intended, if my life should be 
prolonged, to purchase the goods ordered by Sekeletu in En- 
gland with my own money, and pay myself on my return out of 
the price of the ivory. This I explained to the men fully, and 

Zz 



722 THE AUTHOR'S POSITION. 

they, understanding the matter, replied, "Nay, father, you will 
not die ; you will return to take us back to Sekeletu." They 
promised to wait till I came back, and, on my part, I assured 
them that nothing but death would prevent my return. This I 
said, though while waiting at Kilimane a letter came from the 
Directors of the London Missionary Society stating that " they 
were restricted in their power of aiding plans connected only 
remotely with the spread of the Gospel, and that the financial 
circumstances of the society were not such as to afford any 
ground of hope that it would be in a position, within any definite 
period, to enter upon untried, remote, and difficult fields of 
labor." This has been explained since as an effusion caused by 
temporary financial depression ; but, feeling perfect confidence 
in my Makololo friends, I was determined to return and trust to 
their generosity. The old love of independence, which I had so 
strongly before joining the society, again returned. It was roused 
by a mistaken view of what this letter meant ; for the directors, 
immediately on my reaching home, saw the great importance of 
the opening, and entered with enlightened zeal on the work of 
sending the Gospel into the new field. It is to be hoped that 
their constituents will not only enable them to begin, but to 
carry out their plans, and that no material depression will ever 
again be permitted, nor appearance of spasmodic benevolence 
recur. While I hope to continue the same cordial co-operation 
and friendship which have always characterized our intercourse, 
various reasons induce me to withdraw from pecuniary dependence 
on any society. I have done something for the heathen, but for 
an aged mother, who has still more sacred claims than they, I 
have been able to do nothing, and a continuance of the connection 
would be a perpetuation of my inability to make any provision 
for her declining years. In addition to " clergyman's sore 
throat," which partially disabled me from the work, my father's 
death imposed new obligations ; and a fresh source of income 
having been opened to me without my asking, I had no hesita- 
tion in accepting what would enable me to fulfill my duty to my 
aged parent as well as to the heathen. 

J£ the reader remembers the way in which I was led, while 
teaching the Bakwains, to commence exploration, he will, I 
think, recognize the hand of Providence. Anterior to that, when 



RETROSPECT. 723 

Mr. Moflfat began to give the Bible — the Magna Charta of all the 
rights and privileges of modern civilization — to the Bechuanas, 
Sebituane went north, and spread the language into which he was 
translating the sacred oracles in a new region larger than France. 
Sebituane, at the same time, rooted out hordes of bloody savages, 
among whom no white man could have gone without leaving his 
skull to ornament some village. He opened up the way for me 
— ^let us hope also for the Bible. Then, again, while I was labor- 
ing at Kolobeng, seeing only a small arc of the cycle of Provi- 
dence, I could not understand it, and felt inclined to ascribe 
our successive and prolonged droughts to the wicked one. But 
when forced by these and the Boers to become explorer, and 
open a new country in the north rather than set my face south- 
ward, where missionaries are not needed, the gracious Spirit of 
God influenced the minds of the heathen to regard me with 
favor ; thp Divine hand is again perceived. Then I turned away 
westward rather than in the opposite direction, chiefly from 
observing that some native Portuguese, though influenced by the 
hope of a reward from their government to cross the continent, 
had been obliged to return from the east without accomplishing 
their object. Had I gone at first in the eastern direction, which 
the course of the great Leeambye seemed to invite, I should have 
come among the belligerents near Tete when the war was raging 
at its height, instead of, as it happened, when all was over. And 
again, when enabled to reach Loanda, the resolution to do my 
duty by going back to Linyanti probably saved me from the fate 
of my papers in the "Forerunner." And then, last of all, this new 
country is partially opened to the sympathies of Christendom, 
and I find that Sechele himself has, though unbidden by man, 
been teaching his own people. In fact, he has been doing all that 
I was prevented from doing, and I have been employed in explor- 
ing — a work I had no previous intention of performing. I think 
that I see the operation of the unseen hand in all this, and I hum- 
bly hope that it will still guide me to do good in my day and 
generation in Africa. 

Viewing the success awarded to opening up the new country 
as a development of Divine Providence in relation to the African 
family, the mind naturally turns to the probable influence it 
may have on negro slavery, and more especially on the practice 



724 COMMERCIAL STATIONS. 

of it by a large portion of our own race. We now demand in- 
creased supplies of cotton and sugar, and then reprobate the 
means our American brethren adopt to supply our wants. We 
claim a right to speak about this evil, and also to act in reference 
to its removal, the more especially because we are of one blood. 
It is on the Anglo-American race that the hopes of the world for 
liberty and progress rest. Now it is very grievous to find one 
portion of this race practicing the gigantic evil, and the other 
aiding, by increased demands for the produce of slave labor, in 
perpetuating the enormous wrong. The Mauritius, a mere speck 
on the ocean, yields sugar, by means of guano, improved ma- 
chinery, and free labor, equal in amount to one fourth part of 
the entire consumption of Great Britain. On that island land is 
excessively dear and far from rich : no crop can be raised except 
by means of guano, and labor has to be brought all the way 
from India. But in Africa the land is cheap, the soil good, and 
free labor is to be found on the spot. Our chief hopes rest with 
the natives themselves ; and if the point to which I have given 
prominence, of healthy inland commercial stations, be realized, 
where all the produce raised may be collected, there is little doubt 
but that slavery among our kinsmen across the Atlantic will, 
in the course of some years, cease to assume the form of a neces- 
sity to even the slaveholders themselves. Natives alone can 
collect produce from the more distant hamlets, and bring it to 
the stations contemplated. This is the system pursued so suc- 
cessfully in Angola. If England had possessed that strip of land, 
by civilly declining to enrich her "frontier colonists" by " Cafire 
wars," the inborn energy of English colonists would have de- 
veloped its resources, and the exports would not have been 
£100,000 as now, but one million at least. The establishment 
of the necessary agency must be a work of time, and greater diffi- 
culty will be experienced on the eastern than on the western side 
of the continent, because in the one region we have a people who 
know none but slave-traders, while in the other we have tribes 
who have felt the influence of the coast missionaries and of the 
great Niger expedition ; one invaluable benefit it conferred was 
the dissemination of the knowledge of English love of commerce 
and English hatred of slavery, and it therefore was no failure. 
But on the east there is a river which may become a good path- 



VILLAGE OF KILIMANE. 725 

way to a central population who are friendly to the English ; and 
if we can conciliate the less amicable people on the river, and in- 
troduce commerce, an eifectual blow will be struck at the slave- 
trade in that quarter. By linking the Africans there to ourselves 
in the manner proposed, it is hoped that their elevation will event- 
ually be the result. In this hope and proposed effort I am joined 
by my brother Charles, who has come from America, after seven- 
teen years' separation, for the purpose. We expect success 
through the influence of that Spirit who already aided the efforts 
to open the country, and who has since turned the public mind 
toward it. A failure may be experienced by sudden rash specu- 
lation overstocking the markets there, and raising the prices 
against ourselves. But I propose to spend some more years of 
labor, and shall be thankful if I see the system fairly begun in an 
open pathway which will eventually benefit both Africa and En- 
gland. 

The village of Kilimane stands on a great mud bank, and is 
surrounded by extensive swamps and rice-grounds. The banks 
of the river are lined with mangrove bushes, the roots of which, 
and the slimy banks on which they grow, are alternately exposed 
to the tide and sun. The houses are well built of brick and lime, 
the latter from Mozambique. If one digs down two or three feet 
in any part of the site of the village, he comes to water ; hence 
the walls built on this mud bank gradually subside ; pieces are 
sometimes sawn off the doors below, because the walls in which 
they are fixed have descended into the ground, so as to leave the 
floors higher than the bottom of the doors. It is almost need- 
less to say that Kilimane is very unhealthy. A man of plethoric 
temperament is sure to get fever, and concerning a stout person 
one may hear the remark, "Ah ! he will not live long ; he is sure 
to die." 

A Hamburgh vessel was lost near the bar before we came 
down. The men were much more regular in their habits than 
English sailors, so I had an opportunity of observing the fever 
acting as a slow poison. They felt " out of sorts" only, but 
gradually became pale, bloodless, and emaciated, then weaker 
and weaker, till at last they sank more like oxen bitten by 
tsetse than any disease I ever saw. The captain, a strong, robust 
young man, remained in perfect health for about three months. 



726 VALUE OF QUmiNE. 

but was at last knocked down suddenly and made as helpless as 
a child Tby this terrible disease. He had imbibed a foolish prej- 
udice against quinine, our sheet-anchor in the complaint. This 
is rather a professional subject, but I introduce it here in order to 
protest against the prejudice as almost entirely unfounded. Qui- 
nine is invaluable in fever, and never produces any unpleasant ef- 
fects in any stage of the disease, if exhibited hi combination with 
an ajperient. The captain was saved by it, without his knowl- 
edge, and I was thankful that the mode of treatment, so efficacious 
among natives, promised so fair among Europeans. 

After waiting about six weeks at this unhealthy spot, in 
which, however, by the kind attentions of Colonel Nunes and his 
nephew, I partially recovered from my tertian, H.M. brig "Frol- 
ic" arrived off Kilimane. As the village is twelve miles from 
the bar, and the weather was rough, she was at anchor ten days 
before we knew of her presence about seven miles from the 
entrance to the port. She brought abundant supplies for all my 
need, and £150 to pay my passage home, from my kind friend 
Mr. Thompson, the Society's agent at the Cape. The admiral 
at the Cape kindly sent an offer of a passage to the Mauri- 
tius, which I thankfully accepted. Sekwebu and one attend- 
ant alone remained with me now. He was very intelligent, and 
had been of the greatest service to me ; indeed, but for his good 
sense, tact, and command of the language of the tribes through 
which we passed, I believe we should scarcely have succeeded 
in reaching the coast. I naturally felt grateful to him ; and 
as his chief wished all my companions to go to England with 
me, and would probably be disappointed if none went, I thought 
it would be beneficial for him to see the effects of civilization, 
and report them to his countrymen ; I wished also to make some 
return for his very important services. Others had petitioned 
to come, but I explained the danger of a change of climate and 
food, and with difficulty restrained them. The only one who 
now remained begged so hard to come on board ship that I 
greatly regretted that the expense prevented my acceding to his 
wish to visit England. I said to him, "You will die if you go 
to such a cold country as mine." "That is nothing," he re- 
iterated ; " let me die at your feet." 

When we parted from our friends at Kilimane, the sea on the 



EOUGH PASSAGE TO THE "FROLIC." 727 

bar was frightful even to the seamen. This was the first time 
Sekwebu had seen the sea. Captain Peyton had sent two boats 
in case of accident. The waves were so high that, when the 
cutter was in one trough, and we in the pinnace in another, her 
mast was hid. We then mounted to the crest of the wave, 
rushed down the slope, and struck the water again with a blow 
which felt as if she had struck the bottom. Boats must be sin- 
gularly well constructed to be able to stand these shocks. Three 
breakers swept over us. The men lift up their oars, and a wave 
comes sweeping over all, giving the impression that the boat is 
going down, but she only goes beneath the top of the wave, 
comes out on the other side, and swings down the slope, and a 
man bales out the water with a bucket. Poor Sekwebu looked 
at me when these terrible seas broke over, and said, "Is this 
the way you go ? Is this the way you go ?" I smiled and 
said, "Yes; don't you see it is?" and tried to encourage him. 
He was well acquainted with canoes, but never had seen aught 
like this. When we reached the ship — a fine, large brig of six- 
teen guns and a crew of one hundred and thirty — she was rolling 
so that we could see a part of her bottom. It was quite impos- 
sible for landsmen to catch the ropes and climb up, so a chair 
was sent down, and we were hoisted in as ladies usually are, and 
received so hearty an English welcome from Captain Peyton and 
all on board that I felt myself at once at home in every thing 
except my own mother tongue. I seemed to know the lan- 
guage perfectly, but the words I wanted would not come at my 
call. When I left England I had no intention of returning, and 
directed my attention earnestly to the languages of Africa, paying 
none to English composition. With the exception of a short 
interval in Angola, I had been three and a half years without 
speaking English, and this, with thirteen years of previous par- 
tial disuse of my native tongue, made me feel sadly at a loss on 
board the " Frolic." 

We left Kilimane on the 12th of July, and reached the Mauritius 
on the 12th of August, 1856. Sekwebu was picking up English, 
and becoming a favorite with both men and officers. He seemed a 
little bewildered, every thing on board a man-of-war being so new 
and strange; but he remarked to me several times, "Your coun- 
trymen are very agreeable," and, "What a strange country this is 



728 DEATH OF SEKWEBU.— VOYAGE HOME. 

— all water together!" He also said that he now understood why 
I used the sextant. When we reached the Mauritius a steamer 
came out to tow us into the harbor. The constant strain on his 
untutored mind seemed now to reach a climax, for during the 
night he became insane. I thought at first that he was intoxi- 
cated. He had descended into a boat, and, when I attempted 
to go down and bring him into the ship, he ran to the stern and 
said, "No! no! it is enough that I die alone. You must not 
perish ; if you come, I shall throw myself into the water." Per- 
ceiving that his mind was afi*ected, I said, "Now, Sekwebu, we 
are going to Ma Robert." This struck a chord in his bosom, 
and he said, " Oh yes ; where is she, and where is Robert ?" and 
he seemed to recover. The officers proposed to secure him by 
putting him in irons ; but, being a gentleman in his own country, 
I objected, knowing that the insane often retain an impression of 
ill treatment, and I could, not bear to have it said in Sekeletu's 
country that I had chained one of his principal men as they had 
seen slaves treated. I tried to get him on shore by day, but he 
refused. In the evening a fresh accession of insanity occurred ; 
he tried to spear one of the crew, then leaped overboard, and, 
though he could swim well, pulled himself down hand under hand 
by the chain cable. We never found the body of poor Sekwebu. 
At the Mauritius I was most hospitably received by Major 
General C. M. Hay, and he generously constrained me to remain 
with him till, by the influence of the good climate and quiet 
English comfort, I got rid of an enlarged spleen from African 
fever. In November I came up the Red Sea ; escaped the dan- 
ger of shipwreck through the admirable management of Captain 
Powell, of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company's ship 
" Candia," and on the 12th of December was once more in dear 
old England. The Company most liberally refunded my passage- 
money. I have not mentioned half the favors bestowed, but I may 
just add that no one has cause for more abundant gratitude to his 
fellow-men and to his Maker than I have ; and may God grant 
that the effect on my mind be such that I may be more humbly 
devoted to the service of the Author of all our mercies ! 



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